Description
Swedish female-fronted black/thrash metal act Dracena released this private released mini album on the 30th of January 2014. The four songs (and one intro) was recorded at Sonic Train Studios, which belong to King Diamond guitarist Andy La Rocque. This was the band’s first release since their full-length album Infernal Damnation, which came out in 2006. Dracena was formed in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1994 as an all-female band. After three demos the band however fell apart and Dracena has been run since 2002 as a project with Mia Larsson as the only active member. This mini album features F on drums and while there are only four actual tracks here, they pack a powerful punch, with blasting drums, trashy riffing with death metal overtones, snarled vocals and plenty of lead guitar licks running off into the night. The music is heavy and rather fast, like any good thrash and death metal amalgamation should be. “Witching Hour” shows Larsson switching gears between a rhythmic, near galloping thrash riff and Iron Maiden-esque lead licks while the title track, “Ravenous Bloodlust”, sounds like a mix of chunky old school death metal riffing with some faster thrash riffs thrown around for good measure. What I find most surprising in the amount of subtle melody thrown throughout the release, which is probably due to a large amount of traditional metal influence in the riffing and song structures. The main riff on “Essence of Evil”, for instance, wouldn’t sound out of place on Pile of Skulls era Running Wild. Even with all of melodious lead licks, this is still a solid slab of thrashing death metal. I attribute most of Dracena’s heaviness, aside from the furious riffing and blasting drums, to the snarled, rasped vocals. This EP is solid but short. But it’s good for what it is, though; a quick introduction to the world of Mia Larsson and Dracena. If you want some blasting, thrashing metal with touches of traditional soloing and a keen sense of melody, then this ones for you.
Track list:
1. Night Terrors-intro
2. Ravenous Bloodlust
3. Essence of Evil
4. Crypt of Darkness
5. Witching Hour