War of Dragons

Bloodbound have been on the scene for quite a long time now, formed in 2004, Bloodbound have been through their fair share of vocalists, most famous of which is Urban breed; known for his work in Tad Morose and more recently, Serious Black. These days though, Bloodbound have settled on Patrik J. Selleby who has been in the vocal seat since 2010. Alas, if you have never heard Bloodbound, imagine a cross between Edguy with the cheese factor of Dream Evil or HammerFall turned up to 10 and you’re starting to get into the right ball park.

Since they were formed, Bloodbound have had a relatively stable output of albums, on average releasing an album every 2 years. Here we are in 2017 and we have a new Bloodbound album. 'War of Dragons' is Bloodbound’s overall 7th studio album, continuing the 'Game of Thrones'/fantasy theme laid down previously with 'Stormborn', the main difference is 'War of Dragons' doesn’t directly reference the 'Game of Thrones' series, choosing to focus more on its own concept.

It looks like AFM Records have ploughed a large budget into 'War of Dragons', sonically, the album is superb and the guys at Bloodbound have done a brilliant job with the production, 'War of Dragons' is a pleasure to listen to. The keyboards of Fredrik Bergh go a long way to fill out the sound, giving 'War of Dragons' an exceptionally warm feeling overall putting it directly on par with recent releases from HammerFall, Avantasia, Sonata Arctica or even the mighty Sabaton. Speaking of Sabaton, you also have to mention the fact that as much as Bergh’s keyboards fill out the sound, there are a lot keyboard stabs that suspiciously make a few of the tracks sound as if Sabaton’s 2012 masterpiece, 'Carolus Rex' has been used as a template, especially the likes of 'King of Swords', 'Symphony Satana' and 'Tears of a Dragonheart' having a very similar feel to 'Lion from the North'. The Sabaton influence doesn’t end there, 'Battle in the Sky' has a close vocal melody delivery to 'The Last Stand' with the pre-chorus to 'Fallen Heroes' having one lingering chord that is very reminiscent of 'Ruina Imperii'. However, don’t think that 'War of Dragons' is total Sabaton worship, there are tracks likes the beautiful 'Silver Wings' and 'Guardians of Heaven’s Gate' that wouldn’t be out of place on a HammerFall album.

All these similar melodies that ooze from 'War of Dragons' give the album an almost hypnotic and utterly enjoyable feeling. 'War of Dragons' is full of songs that are so insidious; they creep in with melodies that will have you singing along on the first play – a very good feat indeed. From the very start of 'Battle in the Sky' through 'Tears of a Dragonheart' to the title track, 'War of Dragons' is full of the soaring melodies that you would expect from Bloodbound with Selleby once more proving that is the perfect successor to Urban breed.

Sometimes it is dangerous ground to write an album revolving around dragons and particularly a dragon war, it is clichéd, cheesy and borderline laughable. However, Bloodbound have the skill and tenacity to pull this off completely without it sounding none of the above. 'War of Dragons' is masterfully crafted by a band who are well bedded in and know their audience well, but 'War of Dragons' has the melodic hooks with a simple, easy to follow story that could easily attract new fans or casual listeners with tracks such as 'Symphony Satana', 'Fallen Heroes' and the albums closing track, the rousing 'Dragons are Forever'. This track makes you want to raise your mead laden drinking horn high in the air in salute to our fallen scaly guardians.

What you get with 'War of Dragons' is an album of yes, very similar sounding songs, but it also breeds a familiarity that is infectious and once it gets you, you will find that you keep choosing 'War of Dragons' to play. Bloodbound have released another album that is the typical sound of power metal, it’s grandiose, it’s epic and it is full of the fantasy themes that make the genre so endearing.