Bombastic battle intro, black metallic furiousness, epic construction and a freely symphonic background music… and then again party-like Folk and Pagan Metal monotony, blown with plenty of choirs… It seems that DRAUGR can’t decide what they want.
Does the first song The Vitulean Empire remind of Moonsorrow, we find Turisas in L'Augure e il Lupo, Equilibrium here and Finntroll there. I could go on with the list through the entire album. There is no red thread, not to mention something like an atmosphere in the totally overloaded and overdone songs.
Yes, indeed, De Ferro Italico is packed with snappy and catchy melodies, Sword and Sandals like intros and interspersed with met-drinking-horn-like songs to party, but degenerates to a Pagan/Viking Sampler on which young bands pay homage to their heroes.
Originality and tight songwriting are definitely scarce goods. Less would have been so much more on here.
De Ferro Italico is for sure not a bad record, technically faultless and with a great production. But regarding the excessive supply of Pagan/Viking/Folk bands I’d rather recommend the originals.