A Night At The Opera - No this isn't a review of the classic Queen album but rather a visitation to a parallel universe where Giuseppe Verdi lives in the 21^st century and has released an album of gargantuan proportions. Now, before I go any further, I feel that it is important to point out when reviewing the magnificent debut album from Italian Symphonic metal band Signum Draconis, that Symphonic metal is not usually my 'thang'. In the past I have struggled to connect with this sub-genre and tend to 'run to the hills' if presented with it. I hang around street corners with my can of white lightning, in my Hi-Tops listening to 'Thrax, 'Deth and 'Layer. I'm a much better bed fellow with heavy metal, death and really don't mind a bit of grunge and 80's hair metal. So, when all one hour and thirty-seven minutes of 'The Divine Comedy: Inferno' landed on my metaphoric desk I must admit I broke out into a cold sweat and wondered how I would possibly survive such an ordeal. But being a veteran metal head of some 5 (30) years I put on my Brian Johnson thinking cap and pinned back my lugholes (Yorkshire for 'ears').

Well...I mean well...Where do I begin? This isn't an album, oh no. This is 'War and Peace', 'The Iliad', 'Crime and Punishment', actually its Alighieri Dante's 'The Divine Comedy: Inferno'. I struggle to recollect another metal album with such ambition and scale. This is truly a creation of operatic proportions and feel any fumbling of words by me really won't do this justice. With that in mind I'll just shoot from the hip and speak straight.

The album itself has taken some four years in its construction and when you look at its content and number of participants its easy to see why. Including orchestra and a plethora of extra cast members. The musicianship, as with a lot of Symphonic metal, is excellent throughout including the vocals from Max Morelli. The whole project is the brainchild of guitarist and composer Oscar Grace who got the idea for this album whilst out driving in his car and immediately got a copy of 'The Divine Comedy' and began writing. The record is presented as a double album with the seventeen songs divided into two acts, if you will, of twelve and five songs. The final section really building to a magnificent crescendo.

The lyrics are littered throughout with phrases and paragraphs from Dante's work including the opening track 'In The Middle Way Of Life's Journey' which uses the actual first verse from the literary prose. This continues as we are taken on a journey through hell, in a literary sense, to meeting Lucifer himself by the final track. When reviewing an album, I usually like to pick out a number of songs for extra focus and to highlight particular musical or lyrical themes I enjoyed. With this album, although divided into 17 songs, it feels like one continuous classical piece with themes and ideas merging and even spanning across several tracks such as Charon's tale which straddles both 'Gate Of Hell (Ending: Arrival of Charon)' and 'The Borderland', which as an individual song is brilliant.

As I said earlier there is no fumbling of words which can truly describe its grandeur. It must be listened to. Not since listening to Sibelius' 'Karelia Suite' have I so enthusiastically substituted my air guitar for an air baton, but with Signum Draconis I found myself flailing that imaginary stick with vigour. But don't be fooled, this recording is packed with heavy riffs, heavy drumming and metal screams that even Sir Rob of Halford may be proud of. Am I suddenly a massive symphonic metal convert? Well no. But a few more albums like this then I may well be riding my winged horse on a far more regular basis.

Giddy up Pegasus...