Scream of Death

In about 1993 I bought an old “Speed Kills” compilation tape. I was young and was still basing record purchases on the number of songs I would get for my pocket money. This compilation had 25+ songs on it, so what the hell? There were a couple of cool bands I knew already (Nuclear Assault, Venom) and loads of bands I'd never heard of. I later found out that some of those bands were legends (Atheist, Ripping Corpse, Therion, Sarcófago, Dark Angel), and some were not (Wolf Spider, CIA, Creation of Death), but it was all new to me at the time.

Dragon were one of several Polish bands on the compilation (presumably Under One Flag had connections in Poland?). The track was “Altars of Doom". I liked it, but it was buried deep on Side 2, making it difficult to find when rewinding and fast-forwarding on my cassette player. As time passed I got more seriously into death metal and was able to track down classic records from other bands on the compilation ("Dreaming with the Dead", "Unquestionable Presence", "Beyond Sanctorium", etc.). I never heard about Dragon again, none of the magazines I read acknowledged their existence. It was only with the arrival of the Internet and Youtube that I was able to reappraise.

“Screams of Death” came out in 1991 which was the peak year for death metal. This is technically proficient stuff with an emphasis on angular riffs and inventive soloing. There aren't many bands that sound like this, perhaps imagine Nocturnus without the thrashiness, keyboards and sci-fi themes. The guitar sound is similar to “The Key” (lots of echo), but the bass and drums are louder and clearer. The overall production seems more suited to hard rock than death metal, for better or worse.

The first three songs are fantastic. “Mutant” is jagged and off-kilter, with chords and transitions that remind me of Voivod, and with some awesome Nocturnus-esque soloing from 3:05. “Memory” is a bouncy mid-paced tune with lots of free flowing transitions. “Altars of Doom” still fucking kills, I love the jarring intro and the chaotic Voivod-style ‘solo’ near the beginning which then lurches back into the song proper. Unfortunately the album sinks from here on; “Gallery of Void” is decent but ruined by a clumsy bass-led section at 0:52 (and 3:24), “Forgotten by Death” is overlong, the title track is stodgy, “Final Introduction” is pointless, "Song of Darkness" is plodding. “Prisoner” has some cool riffs but doesn't quite gel.

However, all is not lost because the penultimate track is “Ashes of Generations”. This is fucking amazing and easily the best on the album. It sounds like a medley of all the good ideas Dragon ever had, sped up and spewed back out with fire and rage. The song is a kaleidoscope of flowing riffs and the build up into the solo at 2:14 is insane. It's a must for fans of technical death metal and its a mystery why they buried it down at #11 in the running order.

In summary, the music sounds great when it works and less good when it doesn't. The clarity of the production doesn’t give Dragon any leeway because they can’t retreat behind fuzz and distortion. A renowned death metal studio like Morrisound would have papered these cracks, but might have also given it a formulaic sound. "Screams of Death" is not a classic but it has moments of brilliance and four songs which any death metal fan should hear.