Dragonhammer

Well, to take the easy route; this band leaves me split in the middle, kind of. On the one hand, the guys of DRAGONHAMMER are brilliant, technical musicians, having enough knowledge of their instrument to rival such giants as Sonata Arctica and Edguy. I am especially impressed by their young drummer Raf Condemi (born 1983) who has a very tight and versatile drum routine. The use of keyboards in power metal is nothing new, but DRAGONHAMMER’s way of adding the keys is nothing but extraordinary, supplying atmospheric interludes and blazing leads when called for. The performance leaves nothing to be desired, thus. On the other hand, the songs themselves are nothing but boring. I am very sorry to have to say this, but it IS my opinion, and that’s what you wanted, right? The compositions are harmless, without edge, unable to catch the listener by the throat and lift you up to that plateau where you have to be when listening to this kind of metal. It would have been easier, somehow, to say this, had the guys been fuck-ups instrumentally, but that’s not the case. So what we have here is a brilliant band, with a cheesy name (why, oh why, does every power metal band have to have dragons in their name / songs? Especially when the lyrics of Time For Expiation are deeper than that, and obviously deal with a lot more mature themes) and songs that really are as exciting as watching trees grow. I’ll just hope the guys will manage to write some catchier tunes in the future. In the meantime, I’ll stick with Sonata. And another thing: Could you please exclude the spoken intro next time? It adds absolutely nothing to the music. Aren’t intros meant to be captivating, a foretaste of what has to come musically? Also, and I know this might sound contradictory, but please record more than eight songs for the next album. Even though the total playing time adds up to over forty minutes, it would be nice to get at least ten songs if you’re going to pay full price for an album. So, better luck next time for DRAGONHAMMER, I know you have it in you!