LEAvES’ EYES

Sign Of The Dragonhead

AFM Viking symphonic metallers return empty-handed There’s room for pretty much everything in the metal world nowadays – Viking drinking songs, Celtic pipes, J-pop, rap – we’ve seen it all. And when it comes to symphonic metal, bands like Nightwish and Within Temptation, who are at the two-decade mark of their careers, have updated their sounds, consistently changing up their composition style. Even younger bands like Epica and Delain have shown considerable growth and released some stunning music lately. Which is why, in 2017, there is no excuse to release an album like Sign Of The Dragonhead. It’s not that it’s bad, musically, just unforgivably pedestrian, paintby-numbers ‘Viking’ symphonic metal, with not one bar of original composition, and very little of melodic interest until about eight tracks in on the boring-but-pretty Shadows In The Night. New singer Elina Siirala is a talented soprano, but she’s utterly wasted on this awful record. FOR FANS OF: THEATRE OF TRAGEDY, RHAPSODY OF FIRE, MIDNATTSOL

CATHERINE MORRIS