Domine
Dragonlord
(Tales of the Noble Steel)
[Metal Blade]
10 tracks - 57:19
Power metal. Good. Recommended for fans of the style.
Can I leave it at that? No? Well, there's not much else to say, really. I don't know about earth-shattering, but it's talented and capable, so somebody might worship them as the next greatest thing since Iron Maiden, but I guess I'm just jaded by the flood of this market - and what's more, while people may accuse black metal or death metal of 'all sounding the same', the truth is that (IMO at least) it seems that Power Metal is really the genre most guilty of sticking to the formula (Maiden on speed riffing, operatic/theatric vocals, epic/fantasy themes), so much of what I could say about this band has been said already about bands like Blind Guardian, Helloween, etc.... Any band successfully playing this style does deserve credit because it is technically demanding as well as requiring a certain level of song writing ability to make it to the level the genre requires, and on that level I can't fault Domine one bit. Also to their credit, they seem sincere in performing the material on this album, but there's nothing new or different introduced into the formula, so basically the bottom line is the first line of this review - great for fans, but probably won't appeal to those who aren't power metal fans to begin with.
© 2000 lord vic
[ originally appeared in EFW#9 ]
Power metal. Good. Recommended for fans of the style.
Can I leave it at that? No? Well, there's not much else to say, really. I don't know about earth-shattering, but it's talented and capable, so somebody might worship them as the next greatest thing since Iron Maiden, but I guess I'm just jaded by the flood of this market - and what's more, while people may accuse black metal or death metal of 'all sounding the same', the truth is that (IMO at least) it seems that Power Metal is really the genre most guilty of sticking to the formula (Maiden on speed riffing, operatic/theatric vocals, epic/fantasy themes), so much of what I could say about this band has been said already about bands like Blind Guardian, Helloween, etc.... Any band successfully playing this style does deserve credit because it is technically demanding as well as requiring a certain level of song writing ability to make it to the level the genre requires, and on that level I can't fault Domine one bit. Also to their credit, they seem sincere in performing the material on this album, but there's nothing new or different introduced into the formula, so basically the bottom line is the first line of this review - great for fans, but probably won't appeal to those who aren't power metal fans to begin with.
© 2000 lord vic
[ originally appeared in EFW#9 ]