DRACHENBLUT

Dark, foreboding prog bubbling with strong energy and rich in song writing, musical textures and atmospheres. "Drachenblut" marks the 5th studio work for ASGARD who have been silent for well over 6 years and have re-emerged with this progressive rock beauty. For those who remember the magic of ASGARD's remarkable earlier albums will simply adore this one. Although "Drachenblut" contains ASGARD's patented deep medieval prog-like musical imagery, it also explores lots of new space. Musicianship is just exceptional with the highly inventive keyboard tapestries of Alberto Ambrosi , creative driving bass lines of Chris Bianchi d'Espinosa, the intricate and varied guitar expressions of Sergio Ghiotto (ex - TOP LEFT CORNER and the percussive master strokes of Peter Bachmayer. New lead vocalist Ivo Gallo adds a whole new wonderful dimension to the music of ASGARD and continues the romantic influences with a slightly harder delivery than his predecessor and a highly expressive voice - a perfect fit! Overall musically one can draw certain allusions to that of "ARENA" and "GENESIS" with loads of HACKETT'esque guitar accents throughout. Without a question "Drachenblut" will make some noise out there and IMHO I would rank this as one of the best prog albums of 2000 so far...

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.

A great album! Though heavier than previous albums, Asgard again manages to create an mysterious but epic atmosphere in which to tell a heroic story. Recommended for any prog fan who likes instrumental complexity. I will address the tracks one by one.

- "Blue Fire" is a decent opener of the album, and is relatively guitar dominated. The vocals are really nice here, supplying extra melody and an atmospheric air to the music. Also some nice guitar solos can be found. Nice prog track.

- "Red Fire" continues the heavy guitar driven theme and vocal style of the first track, but its tempo is faster and more complex, bordering on prog metal at times, with meandering guitar solos on a background of atmospheric keyboard play. Also the chorus is a little more accessible. Suitable for fans of heavier forms of prog.

- "Ch.I Sigurd" is an introductory track, which introduces the story which will be continued in the next seven tracks. Some keyboards are used as background atmosphere, but there isn't much to say about the music here.

- "Ch.II Dragon's Blood" opens with an acoustic guitar, which reminds me somewhat of Ayreon's style. Definitely a lot softer than the preceding tracks, with a slightly medieval feel in the first part of the song. For the first time in this album, a flute is introduced, which adds to the light atmosphere. The second part continues the musical theme of the first part, but in a heavier style, more like the first two tracks of this album.

- "Ch.III Quid" really kicks off prog greatness in this album. It is the first track which reminds me of the other album of Asgard I know, Arkana. It opens with a long, soft and mostly instrumental intro, slowly building up tension and pressure, with at times the unearthly-sounding meandering keyboard parts I like so much about this band. The instrumental part continues for about 5 minutes, after which a heavier, more epic part with fast vocals starts. A problem with the vocals is that they are sang without any emphasis on syllables of words, and are often badly articulated, which is a shame, as the lyrics add greatly to the mysterious nature of the album. Nevertheless, this is the best track on the album so far, really enjoyable because of the instrumental skill displayed by the band.

- "Ch.IV Drachenfels" is a track with a heroic feel, reminiscent of the Ayreon track Sail Away To Avalon on The Final Experiment (note that, for the rest, this band doesn't sound at all like Ayreon, it's merely a coincidence that I've compared them to Ayreon twice). It is a rather happy, optimistic sounding song. This track also contains some surprising changes in tempo and melody.

- "Ch.V In the Lands of the Dragon of Midgard" starts rather gloomy, with synthesized choruses. A flute enters the music during the intro, played in a wild, improvisatory style which adds a surreal feel together with the low synths, very much like King Crimson does at times. Slow, low vocals, sang in a distressed tone, complete the dark mood. This feel continues for almost the entirety of the song, which is perhaps slightly too long. Nevertheless a fine track.

- "Ch.VI Initiation" takes rather long to get underway, but is a decent track. The instrumental and vocal parts are both nice, though they do not reach the quality of earlier tracks, and the emotional mood of the music is much less pronounced. The instrumental part in the middle is most worth listening to, with all instruments playing complex rhythms and melodies.

- "Ch.VII "I am the udder?"" is a rather noisy track that doesn't add much to the album. It is not bad, but somewhat repetitive, and the vocals can get annoying in this track. It reminds me a little of the boring "I'm the Guy" of Spock's Beard's album Snow (which of course wasn't written yet at the time), because of the vocal style.

- "Ch.VIII The Bathe" is a fully instrumental piano-driven track, improvisatory and progressive. Nice listening, but like the previous two tracks, it lacks the emotional feel of the rest of the album.

- "Memories from Sigurd's Past" is a fast track again with uplifting melodies and fast rhythms. Short and not very noteworthy.

- "Danger! (Sigurd in Love)" is the only track that is clearly neo prog, and reminds very much of the style of Pendragon, with continuous synth organs in the background, and less complex melodies. It reminds me most of the Pendragon track The Last Waltz on The World. Decent track.

- "A lime-leaf was on his back" is, in the first part, sang in the same style as "I am the udder," which isn't a compliment, but the vocals is less predominant in the music, and the music itself is less repetitive, and surprising at times, which makes this a great closing track for this album. It also brings the atmospheric, epic feel back in the music. The keyboard is played in an excellent way in this song, and the solo halfway the song is especially nice. The album is closed with a nice, melodic guitar solo, with a sudden, abrupt end where one would expect a gradual fade-out. I like surprises, it's a major part of what makes prog prog. A great track.

A decent beginning (tracks 1-3), a superb middle part (tracks 4-8), a slightly poorer later part (tracks 9-12) and a great finisher. You won't regret adding this album to your collection.

I have really never understood the old ancient world's fascination for the old Viking world. It seems like the Italians & Co from the old Roman empire believe the old Asatru has the answers to all their ills. Financial meltdown and a sprained wrist ? Unleash Odin. Most of us up in the North would gladly swap minus twenty degrees with Sicily and Italy. And we frequently do ! The trade and tourism from Scandinavian countries is one of Italy's biggest income sources.

Asgard developed and expressed their fascination for these old Nordic beliefs a decade or two ago. Their music is dark and brooding neo prog with some hints towards the Italian occult music scene. Dark and brooding, but still pretty standard and not that interesting. The music is more standard rock than neo-prog. It is bereft of most ideas though.

I find the music here pretty dull and that even after weeks of listening to it. Not all the time, that is. I am not in a loony home. But on a more infrequent basis though to see if this album has the ability to mature. It does not. The vocals are on the less satisfying end of the scale. The music is standard rock and I have long time ago entered the bored out of my mind stage. It is OK, but not more.

2 stars