Draconian
Turning Seasons Within

March 2008
Released: 2008, Napalm Records/Sound Pollution
Rating: 4.0/5
Reviewer: Anders Sandvall

This Swedish gothic doom act is back and ready to follow up 2005’s ARCANE RAIN FELL. They also released an album called THE BURNING HALO in 2006 that featured older songs rerecorded as well as a couple of new ones. The band has made some minor musical changes with TURNING SEASONS WITHIN: the tempo has increased and some gothic flavors have been added. Anders Jacobsson takes care of the death metal vocals and Lisa Johansson sings the softer female vocals and their voices fit together perfectly. They sound beautiful and very romantic together and certainly add another dimension to the songs and the music.

The album is pretty long and even though there only are 9 songs the album lasts for about 60 minutes. The lyrics are typical to this genre and deal with hopeless love, pain, suffering and darkness. I’d say that TURNING SEASONS WITHIN might be the band’s strongest album so far. I’m really impressed by Draconian and this album proves that they are one of the strongest bands in this genre today.

The production is just as extraordinary as the rest of the disc; it lifts the darkness up into the light. Every dark element works in total harmony with the others and it’s been a while since I last heard and experienced such a strong production. Jens Bogren and David Castillo at Fascination Street Studio have done a terrific job.

I’m totally blown away by Draconian and can’t imagine any other album being stronger than this. If you liked this band before, you’re gonna be stunned by this album because I have never heard such a solid package of darkness, heavy riffs and amazing songs before. This is a given item in any goth or doom fan’s CD rack. Buy it now!