It's been a long road for the German black metal band Drautran. They formed back in 1996 and self-released a demo in 1999. They've had many lineup changes over the years, and entered the studio back in 2005 to record this CD. Finally, their debut CD was released in Europe last year, and is now hitting the stores in North America.
Throne Of The Depths is dark and majestic Viking metal. It's a diverse effort mixing raw black metal with atmospheric keyboards and acoustic folk. Drautran smoothly transitions from bleak and intense to grandiose and regal to mellow and introspective.
The vocals are also really diverse. They go from melodic singing/chanting to yells to growls to shrieks. The lyrics aren't in English, but in this genre you can't understand them anyway, so it doesn't matter if they're in German, Old Norse or Klingon. Throne Of The Depths is an impressive debut, and hopefully black metal fans won't have to wait another 8 years for the follow up.
(released April 29, 2008 on Prophecy North America)
