DRACHENBLUT

Drachenblut is the fifth item of Asgard's constant explorations into the traditions of ancient magic within the realms of musical art in prog rock. After the original line-up's singer andguitarist left the band, you could really suspect that the album after Arkana was destined to retrace the band's steps in pursue of a proper refurbishment of their neo-symphonic vision, since the aforesaid members' inputs were crucial and determining for the band's core sound. Drachenblut took some time to complete given the fact that the definitive line-up changes didn't ultimately gel, but eventually, the remaining members, keyboardist/flutist Alberto Ambrosi and bassist/2nd guitarist Chris Bianchi d'Espinosa, managed to restore the quintet format. The sound production is far from perfect, but that's another issue tha twe won't get into now. New vocalist Ivo Gallo, given his style and tone that are more related to hard rock and Stone Temple Pilots-type grunge, had to bear on his shoulders the burden of carrying the lyrics' messages over a rockier development of Asgard's sound. Hardening the sound of prog was nothing new for Asgard: the excellent concept album Imago Mundi was actually very prog metal- related from the neo-prog shoreline that Asgard had created out of the influences received from Fish- era Marillion, Gabriel-era Genesis and the pastoral factor of vintage Italian symphonic prog. But now the band's style has become a bit darker, even more related to the somber vibe that we can find in IQ's epic moments and teh stamina than we can find in many heavy prog and prog metal bands. The first two tracks are manifestos of the symphonic trend that the band is now headlong for: 'Blue Fire' is a ceremonious mid-tempo rocker, while 'Red Fire' delivers a more frantic rhythmic structure, both finding a comfortable place in the crossroads of heavy prog and Imago Mundi powerfully metallish neo. Gallo's voice and style work well in the energetic passages, but they don't at all in the softer ones. The pastoral first half of 'Dragon's Blood' and the dreamy atmospheres of 'In the Lands of the Dragon of Midgard' are very hard for him to merge well into the whole integral mood. The same goes for the first of the two epics, 'Quid': it is beautifully constructed as in the eerie climaxes one can find in 2Esoteric Poem and Arkana, but the vocalist of the moment is not the right messenger. Of course, he is very efficient in the majestic mid-tempo 'Drachenfels', as well as the other epic 'Initiation' (the album's apex). 'Initiation' states a compact cohesiveness through the various motifs, in a sequence that goes from the mysterious to the solemn, and from there to the bombastic: the pastoral closure is an effective way to complete the idea. I Am the Udder is a short yet catchy rocker that also fits Gallo's style well. The character of Sigurd had been introduced in the spacey brief instrumental tha tis track 3, and now it meets the two melodic rockers 'Memories from Sigurd's Past' and 'Danger!', preceded by the piano solo piece entitled 'The Bathe'. The piano solo is fine, but teh two rockers do not work quite right: they are agile and catchy, but they are in danger of trivialising the Asgard ideology (especially 'Danger!'). Luckily, the last track 'A Time-Leaf Was on His Back' corrects things in pure splendorous fashion: the track's development fits the standard of neo-symphonic at its best, even reprising some motifs from 'Initiation' in its closing climax. Drachenblut is a very good album, but Asgard had proved to be capable of much better things, more productive for the preservation of the prog rock flame through the 90s. This album doesn't represent the real Asgard: Yes could do realyessian music with Moraz instead of Wakeman, Genesis did the same without Gabriel for a while, DT without Moore, etc. Grade: good, at times very good with moments of Asgardish greatness.