DragonHammer
The Blood Of Dragon

So... they are the DragonHammer and their first CD is called "The Blood Of Dragon", only the album title does not appear on the CD cover but rather it appears right on the CD itself, and many on the internet (even on certain serious sites like freedb.org) think the album is named DragonHammer after the band. Perhaps not everyone knows that there is a big difference between Power and melodic speed and that Blind Guardian do power metal while DragonForce do melodic speed metal, but even here many sites (often serious) confuse the ideas.

The DragonHammer, (an Italian band) have a goal, that of combining both genres, thus composing both melodic metal songs with medieval fantasy themes using raw and fast sounds and inserting dynamic and fluid instrumental solos. I say "goal" because listening to it feels like listening to an amateur album. That after a few years, they recorded a second album and that it went decidedly better than the first can make you understand that the band corrected and/or improved the small but deep imperfections of this one.

The imperfections are the following: the songs are generally nice but too simple and predictable, the voice is that of a normal person and there is no point in straining to hit the high notes if they can’t, and as if that weren’t enough, the voice has a poor English pronunciation and the lyrics (reading the booklet) are simple and banal; not to mention the drums that don’t have a clean sound at all. But on one hand, it fascinates, so I’m not "attacking" this album to say "don’t buy it", rather I’m saying: "it’s interesting, buy it, but don’t expect anything special". Instrumentally, they are enjoyable, Max Aguzzi knows how to move his fingers well on the fretboard, and in certain songs he crafts note-worthy solos, the double pedal is also appreciated, and in my opinion, the best is Alex Valdambrini, the keyboardist who accompanies all the songs with small independent solos.

Besides the presence of choirs (Cor Dragonis, Fulcrum Beli) and sounds of knight battles in the background, there are also small intervals taken from movies, I think it’s about DragonHeart. Objectively, one could say that there are no bad songs, but precisely because of those few setbacks, few but significant, and perhaps also because of the now very predictable originality in question, the album acquires a doubtful quality. If on one hand, it may perhaps intrigue, it’s because the band steps a bit outside the fixed scheme that a power band must necessarily hit the audience with speed and technique, and they don’t do it, or rather: they don’t do it in the Rhapsody and Dragon Force Manner, that is, speeding at the speed of light. More importance is given to melody and refrains. The best ones are "Fire" and "Blood in the sky", then as in every respectable melodic metal, there is also the presence of the typical Ballad, in this case, it’s: "In Your Eyes" relaxing but a bit monotonous.

In conclusion, this album can be liked or can even be hated, I personally think for some time that an excessive abuse of technique by a group, brings the listener into an already explored field and sometimes it’s better to listen to something more modest, simple, and well done. So this album