"New album, new album..." New or not, a disc dated 2006 under the beloved DRACONIAN brand has arrived.
I wouldn't really call this an album — an EP or mini-album at most. Judge for yourself: there's new material on only the first three tracks, three more are re-recorded songs from the 1999 demo "The Closed Eyes Of Paradise," and two are covers. In any case, this release heralds a new album. In this regard, the first three tracks are of greatest interest. They are arguably the most indicative and trend-setting.
What we hear suggests nothing but a continuation of the chosen course — the material is quite heavy in terms of guitar sound, growling is given a nearly leading role, while the female vocals, as always superb, are pushed to the back and mostly serve as backing vocals.
But of course, no radical changes have occurred. DRACONIAN play the same beautiful, melancholic gothic doom death, the same themes stirring the minds of this collective: sorrow, grief, death, and love.
I want to note the more thoughtful arrangements, especially regarding the keyboards — their parts are concise but eloquent, the insertions minimal yet very weighty and emotionally expressive.
In any case, the new material on "The Burning Halo" is more dynamic and varied than on "Arcane Rain Fell."
Tracks 4 through 6 are by no means weaker, but you can feel the stylistic disparity with the new compositions.
And for dessert, so to speak, we're offered the gorgeous and utterly apocalyptic "On Sunday They Will Kill The World" — a cover of Ekseption — and the indecently driving "Forever My Queen," which breaks from the pattern set by the opening compositions, like a feast during a plague.
Overall, I was quite satisfied with this release — let's wait for the full-length creation.