Album Review: Dragonknight – Legions (Scarlet Records)

It’s time to join the Legions as Dragonknight call us forward with their debut album, Legions, due out on the 17th of January via Scarlet Records.

Dragonknight is a new conceptual band created by a bunch of seasoned Finnish metal veterans, skillfully forging a smooth and fresh rendering of the classic North European power metal style through soaring melodies, thunderous rhythms, and epic orchestration, fused with crushing riffs – an unforgettable sonic journey of legendary proportions. The eleven anthemic chapters of the first record “Legions” tell of heart-wrenching battles, strong-willed warriors and the beauty of glorious death, but also the treasure hunts gone awry, conquest, and the inner power to rise from the hopeless pit of despair yet again in the face of adversity – hear the armies and swords clash, seafaring vessels creak and the wings of the serpents soar.

Coming with cover artwork by Tommi Aaltonen, Legions is produced by Dragonknight, mixed by Mikael Grönroos at Crownhook Studio and mastered by Svante Forsbäck at Chartmakers West.

This is power metal, in it’s most powerful, cinematic form reminiscent of the giants of this genre in it’s production quality, story telling and immersive soundscape. Think Blind Guardian, Helloween, Sabaton, Twilight Force and Orden Ogan to get an idea of what you are all set to witness.

Dragonknight deliver big power metal anthems across the entirety of Legions, ticking all the appropriate boxes. Catchy hooks, singalong choruses, big guitar solos, folk touches and powerful clean vocals. Right from the off, the heavily cinematic intro of Through Sea and Fire certainly gets the blood pumping and you into the right mindset. A combination of strong orchestrals, choirs and folk arrangements that make it very clear what you can expect on Legions. The Legions Of Immortal Dragonlords is where things really get going though with a fast and fiery song delivering booming drum blasts and fiery lead guitars. The vocals are clean, with really neatly placed backing harmonising and the switch into the chorus is fire.

The chorus itself will have you wanting to sing along and it’s time to dust off that air guitar for the big solo. In some ways, as good as it is as a song, it’s also pretty much what you can expect from the genre, just done very well. Dragonknight do flex creative muscle as the album carries on. The Imperator keeps the best bits of this genre with it’s catchy melody, singalong chorus and solo but drops the pace down in the verses adding a more folk tint and layering in a load of orchestral backing, then having the song through riffs and drums grow faster, darker and heavier as it progresses.

Vocal prowess comes to the forefront in Pirates Bloody Pirates! in a song that is not a pirate shanty, don’t worry. It’s still very much a power metal track with flurries of melody and bass/drum sections that will get you wanting to move. The chorus lacks a little for my taste but I appreciate them getting to some very high notes. I love the vocals in the verses here, the solo is great and the choir backing the solo adds more of that cinematic and grandiose feeling to another good song. Defender of Dragons and Storm Bringer bring more power metal goodness with faster tracks that offer speedy drumming, vocal power and lessons in guitar mastery.

Astarte Rise brings a bit of a change up with an acoustic intro, soft vocals and gorgeous symphonic backing. It grows in power as it plays out but this is Dragonknight’s “ballad” and it’s beautiful with astonishing vocals. As good as that track is, and as good as Legions has been up until now, my favourite track comes next with Dead Kings In The Grave. A fiery beast of a track with a massive dollop of rhythm and groove. It ticks every box – big guitars, strong vocals, fast rhythms and banging choruses. This is one of the many tracks on here I’ll be playing a lot.

The same can be said for Sword of The Northern Lights as Dragonknight look to raise the bar even higher in the second half of this strong album. The chorus vocals tracking with the guitars is a clever move and vocals again show off serious melody, range and power. There is a light and airy melody that drags you forward and a nice little bit of keys as well, just to add another element. That, and the excellent harmonising vocals make for a cracking track. On to The Revelation next and we keep the pace up with a meatier track that has a bit more darkness to it, especially in the verses. Rougher vocals, bassy riffs and heavy drums that then lead us to the chorus where it transitions nicely into a more harmonious passage.

Wait for the stunning instrumental section that closes out each chorus –  a meandering guitar melody with quick drums and backing choirs – it’s awesome and leaves you wanting more. But there is just one more so we close out legions with Return to Atlantis. Dragonknight pull out their full box of tricks here. The mix of vocals is astonishing, whether it’s the rougher vocals, the smooth cleans and the plentiful backing harmony. Musically it has a good pace, a foot tapping, head banging rhythm with flurries of guitars and backing symphonic tones. Leading all of that is the meaty thump of bass and drums that keeps the feeling of a heavier track.

It is a longer one too so we have plenty of time for transitions in pace and get a nice violin and piano led orchestral slow down. Acoustic guitars take over, playing out the once electric melody from the songs start. Electric guitars gently build in before we explode back into life with screaming guitars and screaming vocals. That’s impressive. The quality stays up until the close as guitars blaze out and choruses ring.

It closes out an album in quite breathless fashion leaving you absolutely clear of the experience within Dragonknight and how they will very quickly take an uppermost position within this genre and lead it forwards into 2025 and beyond. Legions delivers power metal, as you know it, without too many genre bending differences, but they deliver the very best version of it with a collection of exciting songs, written wonderfully and executed to perfection.

Tracklist:

Through Sea And Fire
The Legions Of Immortal Dragonlords
The Imperator
Pirates Bloody Pirates!
Defender Of Dragons
Storm Bringer
Astarte Rise
Dead Kings In The Grave
Sword Of The Northern Lights
The Revelation
Return To Atlantis

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