The number of Romanian Black Metal bands is rather sparse, although most people don’t get much further than the (magnificent!) Negură Bunget we haven’t had a whole lot more pass by on our pages either. Alongside Vârcolac and Strigoic Curse, this new Drakorathos is just one of the few bands to have made it to our desk from this mysterious country in the south-eastern reaches of Europe. A land filled to the brim with mystical forests and haunting myths and folklore. Something that is reflected musically in basically all bands from that region, so too with Drakorathos…
If I would stick to the three aforementioned references when it comes to Romanian Black Metal, they all three sound quite different with their own distinct way of weaving together their shared cultural back ground into music. Yet, they share a bit of that mysticism that is rather hard to put into words. Drakorathos fits perfectly in this tradition, while not at all sounding like Negură Bunget, this new band shares that magical feeling of a grand nature and a perfect sense for epic melodies. But the music is built mainly on the very basics of the Black Metal genre, which means that ‘Ode To The Majesty Of The Nightside’ is a more or less riff-based affair. With offering lots of well-crafted melodies Drakorathos positions itself somewhat between the atmospheric nature of their well-known compatriots and the more straight-forwardness of the other two acts mentioned here.
Yet, the question, of course, is whether a comparison is really required, as ‘Ode To The Majesty Of The Nightside’ is a solid release that is very much able to stand on its own. It has just about everything that a good Black Metal release should have, some piercing but catchy riffs, earworming melodies, grim and raspy vocals and an excellently fitting raw production. Keeping in mind that this is only the band’s first offering, I can only conclude that this is a very convincing start for Drakorathos.
