Dragsholm has emerged from its crypt.
Active since 2017, the New Jersey-based band led by Vlad Rituals (guitar/vocals/bass), Schleim (guitar), G.B. (drums/vocals), and Gravelord (guitar) has finally unveiled its debut album, From the Bloodlines of Bram.
Irinas Heart is the first track to strike with its mix of Old School Black Metal and melodic roots, offering the perfect soundtrack for a journey into the depths of Romania, to the castle evoked by the album’s title, before the vocals bring in a furious Black/Death Metal touch. The mix is simply perfect to my ears, offering us a break before the rush to The Wandering Relic, where we find occult and jerky passages, but also the inherent violence and touch of leads that resonate in my ears as a fan of Swedish Death Metal. We find these sounds again in the vindictive I Am the Impaler, a very raw composition that could have been released in the heyday of the 90s, with fast and above all very heavy riffs, complementing the more measured violence of A Coffin Unscathed, the following track. The Norwegian coldness resurfaces, coupled with the band’s massive approach and its Death Metal influences, but the track is short, as is A Kingdom in the Land of Shadows, which offers a more haunting sound at first, complemented by the rage of the vocals that perfectly match the heaviness. The piercing icy touch is present, but the track is a little short, taking the time to unleash its violence, just like Battling Through the Storm Lands, which features much more pronounced leads, while offering a heavier and more marked rhythmic base. Crosses Drowned in Blood offers us a mystical vocal sample, but ultimately the track transforms into unbridled violence, and then it’s with Thorns For Mina that the band closes their album, placing violent Death roots attributed to their origins… and that’s the end.
Dragsholm has awakened and given us a most interesting album that blends Black and Death Metal. Both roots are present, offering us the most virulent elements, and From the Bloodlines of Bram takes us on a journey to Transylvania.
85/100
