DRAGONSFIRE, like DRAGONFORCE? Thankfully, for my ears at least, not. Truth is the 'dragon' utterance has contributed the most to our beloved music, providing tons of bands, albums, songs and lyrics holding proud high the Metal ideals. Germany's DRAGONFORCE release their first full-length album (via the auspicious Pure Steel Records label) and let's see what's all about.
Germany, speed, riffs, Metal, bray vocals and Teutonic sincerity all the way. DRAGONSFIRE formed in New Year's Eve 2005; what a better declaration to start the new year? Bassist Torsten Thassilo Herbert handled the lead vocals and - after one male and one female vocalist had come and gone - now remains the voice of the band. DRAGONSFIRE released the Burning For Metal demo EP in 2005 and went on to a shitload of gig appearances in their home country. 2008 finds the band releasing a 'normal' album and - truth is - Visions Of Fire will possibly attract your interest if you're a fan of the sound of bands like...
...GRAVE DIGGER and PARAGON with enough of ACCEPT, SACRED STEEL, POWERGOD and IRON MAIDEN references. Would you categorize them as a 'true' Metal band? Go ahead, you won't be that far from the real deal. Still, DRAGONSFIRE's music does not behold any Power/epic Metal components since it's 100% Heavy Metal all the way. Of course, being a German band gives you this Teutonic blend that many often misunderstand as becoming 'Euro Power'. Nah, tracks like Dragonsfire Rockxxx and Burning For Metal shall take no prisoners anyway.
With the instrumentation being kinda typical yet unveiling notable pieces of German Metal music, a critical point is if you can stand Herbert's vocals. To be honest, first time the CD spinned I kinda despaired listening to the voice. Herbert sings like being a nephew of Udo Dirkschneider, a cousin of Chris Boltendahl and a classmate of teenager Hansi Kursch, all to the power of ten. So, if you cannot stand such singing paths you can as well run away. For the faithful, truth is you'll have to spend a good time with the album to get used to the vocal parts. Then, logically, you'll have enough comfort to deal with...
...a bunch of notable Heavy/Teutonic Metal songs the Deutsch way. The guitars/bass/drums sounds is really persuasive and all players are pounding like hell. The riffs are striking and 100% 'German' in coherence. The leads are to-the-point while at parts there are certain minor climaxes bursting out in support of some harmonic variation. While there's a tendency for fast tempos in the album, the band is clever enough to fill in with intriguing intermezzos/bridges in order to avoid awaking boredom. The album's duration helps, too; 45 minutes was the average duration of all 80s Metal masterpieces back then.
Listening again to Shine On (a rollin' tempo track with a captivating opening theme) and The Other One (obscurity...), I strongly hope Visions Of Fire will be a guest in my CD player in the days/years to come. And that's a strong report, bearing in mind countless albums are floating around in our days. Credit goes to DRAGONSFIRE, no doubt; they shall not let down the Teutonic Heavy Metal fan.