War of Dragons

As the ancient philosopher Heraclitus once said, "a man can not step on the same river twice", words that have a great deal of applicability to one of Sweden's favored power metal sons. Initially presented as a diabolical offspring of the mid-2000s scene with a style that reached back a bit into the earlier part of the same decade, Bloodbound has not been one to be continually bound by a singular approach to their adopted style, and have seen a fair number of lineup shifts to complement the all but capricious shifts in sound. Over the course of the three previous albums a level of stability in their lineup did little to dissuade this band from mixing it up from one LP to the next, and the only question that was left hanging by the time the new year ushered in 2017 and a new album was on the horizon was "has this band run out of ways to reinvent themselves"? With the release of War Of Dragons, the short answer is no, though with a few needed caveats.

As far as albums go in this band's now 13 year history, their latest offering is the first to trend a bit closer to the previous offering (Stormborn), building off a similar aesthetic of cinematic orchestrations that lean a bit in favor of the massive sound offered by fellow Swedish veterans Sabaton and German contemporaries Powerwolf. However, this symphonic aesthetic has been heightened and accompanied by a massive arrangement of vocal layers, culminating in a massive choral backdrop that introduces something of a Freedom Call meets Rhapsody Of Fire element into the equation, anchored by the band's enduring yet now somewhat obscured affinity with the older school mode of heavy metal exemplified in Hammerfall. Most of Bloodbound's signature elements, namely the technical guitar wizardry of Tomas Olson and the attitude-based power of Patrik Johansson's vocals are still on point, but the overall feel and aesthetic of this album is more in tune with the epic, larger than life, turn-of-the-millennium sound of power metal that this band has generally fallen just shy of truly exploring.

While not really being known for writing excessively long epic numbers, this album has a decidedly more compact feel than most of their previous works, placing a greater emphasis on concise verses and brief instrumental forays that all tend to point towards the chorus as the focal point. Most of the time the tempo ranges from moderately fast to a festive frenzy of speed, and while they tend to be a tad bit top heavy relative to previous offerings, the bottom end of this is a bit better emphasized between the rhythm guitars and the bass and drum presence than a typical Twilight Force or Pathfinder offering, though there are occasional moments where Bloodbound seems to channel one or both of said bands. The opening trifecta of Sabaton-like power that are "Battle In The Sky", "Tears Of A Dragonheart" and the title offering "War Of Dragons" present the most well-rounded offerings of this style where things are generally fast and driving, but not quite exaggerated to the point of sheer early 2000s majesty.

If one were to go by the first few songs on War Of Dragons, one might be tempted to mistake it for a more keyboard oriented and atmospheric version of Stormborn, but as things progress further a different beast emerges. Perhaps the first real break with this band's sizable collection of precedents is the folksy, infectious nod to flute-driven Tolkien channeled goodness "Silver Wings", bringing a little bit of an Elvenking and Blind Guardian into the Sabaton meets Hammerfall mix. A highly impressive nod to the harder edged German sound of Primal Fear and Gamma Ray comes into the equation with "King Of Swords", particularly during the raunchy shrieks displayed during the verse and bridge sections, which are cut recurring Helloween and Sabaton elements elsewhere. The high point of this otherwise straight up climax of an album is the speeding fit of technical mayhem "Guardians At Heaven's Gate", which takes the flashy riff work pioneered by Kai Hansen to its logical conclusion and rivals Malmsteen during Tomas' guitar solo.

This is one of those relentless power metal albums that doesn't really give the listener any kind of respite from the epic goodness that is often reserved for about a third of the album. The only real flaw it carries is a slight over-reliance on similar instrumental themes, many of them running parallel to the Sabaton/Civil War approach of massive sounding keyboard harmonies, but the mixture of other stylistic elements finds this album in a better place than much of what both bands have done since their inceptions. It's a matter of taste as to whether this album is a cut above most of what lay in Bloodbound's past, but for anyone that regarded the time from 1995 through 2002 as being power metal's golden years (this includes the author of this review), this album shares the same status as the debut effort Nosferatu, though both albums are pretty far apart from each other apart from being qualitatively similar. Unapologetic statements of melody and high-fantasy storytelling are the order of the day here, so much so that these warriors haven't even bothered bringing sheaths for their swords.