Taking A Look Back: Dragonlord - “Rapture”

Back in 2001, Testament guitarist Eric Peterson release the first full-length from his black metal side project Dragonlord. The first thing I should probably say is that Dragonlord doesn’t play the “raw” style of black metal with intentionally poor production, or with distorted echoing vocals. Dragonlord instead draws heavily from Cradle Of Filth, especially in with the vocals. Eric Petersons vocals come close to the usually high rasp of Dani Filth himself, and many of the harsh vocals harmonies. With the exception of Dani Filth’s extremely high pitched eardrum ripping scream, Eric Peterson is almost dead ringer for Mr. Filth.

A few American styled thrash items are present on Dragonlord, such as the inclusion of some wood-shedding solos. The drums have a good low bass thump and a deep snare crack. The guitar sound is a very powerful heavy distortion as opposed to the cold, stark evil tone of most guitars in the world of black metal. Most of the black metal atmosphere here though is provided by the keyboards and vocals.

In 2001 there weren’t very bands at the time vying to take a shot at Cradle Of Filth (Wykked Wytch perhaps?). Now 5 years later there are quite a few more bands taking a stab at high-gloss symphonic black metal and attempting some hybrids as well. “Rapture” can provide an entertaining distraction from Cradle Of Filth at times, but the end result comes very close to Cradle Of Filth.

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