The Swedish band Draconian's latest CD is a combination of remakes of tracks from their demo The Closed Eyes Of Paradise along with three new songs and a couple cover songs, including Pentagram's "Forever My Queen."
Draconian is usually labeled as a doom metal band, but their music is much broader than that. It's dark and atmospheric, but several of their songs are mid and even up tempo, not always the plodding pace of most doom metal. It's also very polished and complex.
Draconian's vocals are a combination of Anders Jacobsson's death metal growls and spoken word vocals along with Lisa Johansson's ethereal melodic vocals. Many other bands have used the death metal/gothic combination, but with the darkness and epic sound of Draconian it really works well. This is an album that's somber and melancholy, perfect for a cold winter night.
