I dislike autumn a lot (and god I hate rain, it's the worst thing), so I usually associate shitty albums with it.
Have a night update now, which, considering the album in question, is only natural and fitting. It's like I'm committed to this thread or something!
#31
Dracula: Swing of Death
Jørn Lande / Trond Holter
Genre: hard rock / classic metal
2015
Recommended to me by: Hard rock / Classic metal thread in GMD
You can adore his voice or hate it with passion, but there’s no denying that Jørn Lande is one of the most prominent heavy metal voices nowadays. Not only the sheer power and grit of his voice are incredible, but the amount of projects he does—to the point where it seems he’s everywhere, but not to the point of oversaturation, in my opinion, although you can argue this point—makes sure his roaring is heard on the metal scene. Ark, Masterplan, ongoing gig with Avantasia, the appearance on Ayreon’s
01011001, Allen/Lande (can we get Magnus back please?) solo career, singing for League of Legends even! Jørn sure does lend his voice to many projects, although perhaps not as many as Anneke van Giersbergen. And then there is this little gem of an album. A collaboration between Jørn, a perfect voice for Count Dracula, and a Norwegian guitarist Trond Holter, whose songwriting and guitar skills left me in awe after the first listen to this record.
I mean, there’s nothing mindblowing per se. It’s not genre-changing like
Images and Words, and it’s not Yngwie Malmsteen’s
Rising Force. But that’s not what I was trying to say. What I
was trying to say, is that Jørn is a fantastic singer—his sheer power and presence on stage is undeniable. While I only saw him once with Avantasia on the latest
Ghostlights tour (he wasn’t there for
The Mystery of Time, but I hope to witness him again on the upcoming
Moonglow tour), seeing
The Scarecrow performed with him live was an unforgettable experience. However, his outstanding skills in singing department do not make a good songwriter. I could never get into his solo albums, and while Chad recommended
Life on Death Road to me, I didn’t enjoy that as much as, well, pretty much anything else with Jørn behind the mic. Avantasia and Ayreon and first three of Allen/Lande albums, that’s where Jørn shines. By now I’m convinced that he needs another songwriter to provide him the material to sing the hell out of it, and in case of
Dracula: Swing of Death he got the right material indeed, and that’s why this album works so well on many levels.
I remember a commotion about this record in the classic metal thread, the surprise of how good it was, and I checked it out right away, I think. This record might’ve not made any of my lists for 2015 because, as I said, that year was freaking surreal in terms of new music, the sheer amount of the albums I discovered that year is still stunning to me. But then, come spring of 2016, I went to aforementioned Avantasia concert, and they had a lot of the CDs from the singers’ side-projects, which was a brilliant move, by the way. I’ve got the second Kiske/Somerville there, I’ve got this record, I might’ve bought other stuff too, and while
City of Heroes was fairly meh (
salvation, I can’t resist your temptation, damn, last time I’ve listened to this track was about two years ago and I still can’t get over how cheesy this line is, and that’s coming from me of all people),
Dracula stood the test of time and is still in my rotation.
It might come as a surprise to you if you’re not familiar with this record, but there are also female vocals on it! And while the core of the record is still mostly guitar-driven heavy metal, there are some welcome deviations from the usual formula. For example, there is a swing-driven song (a title track, duh), there is an instrumental track, there’s some tracks with unconventional structures too, and I guess this diversity plays a big role in how this album still manages to sound fresh almost four years after its release.
So don’t let the label fool you, despite it being released by Frontiers Records, this album is worth your time if you’re a straightforward metal fan.
Favourite songs:
Walking on Water (
YouTube,
Spotify),
Masquerade Ball (
YouTube,
Spotify),
Queen of the Dead (
YouTube,
Spotify)