Wolfheart - Draconian Darkness (2024)

Tuomas Saukkonen continues to be one of the most busy persons in Metal, dropping a new Wolfheart release in 2024. With “Draconian Darkness”, the band continues its illustrious career delivering nine tracks and over 40-minutes of catchy and engaging Melodic Death Metal. Featuring the band’s signature sound plus a few tweaks, this release perfectly balances aggression with melody, creating epic headbanging moments in its wake.

Opening with “Ancient Cold”, we get the band’s signature melodic riffing alongside subtle atmospheric arrangements, creating a very immersive atmosphere. One particular tweak is the use of more clean vocals, compared to their previous release, with both Lauri Silvonen and Vagelis Karzis contributing to this. As the band pummels through “Evenfall”, “Burning Sky”, and “Death Leads the Way”, the band further explores this more balanced approach with a nice addition of some orchestral arrangements, courtesy of Saku Moilanen, further enriching the experience.

As our favorite track, “Scion of the Flame” features a more theatrical opening that leads to a more Doomier sound, reminding us a bit more of Dawn of Solace. Changing up the pace a bit we have the contrasting “Grave”, with a very solemn opening that suddenly transforms into a pretty heavy affair. With the album starting on the more melancholic side of things, it is well received to hear tracks like “Throne of Bones” that also show the fiercer side the band showcased on “King of the North” and “Trial by Fire”, a track that could peg Wolfheart more as a Death Metal band if heard on a vacuum.

Overall, “Draconian Darkness” offers the band’s fans a very engaging and diverse release that showcases the band’s strengths and usual sounds within a more symphonic context. We love that Wolfheart keeps exploring and expanding their sound, achieving a very melancholic mixture of heaviness and catchiness. There are more than plenty of headbanging passages to keep any fan of the genre satisfied, so make sure you check this one out.

Label: Label: Reigning Phoenix Music

Release: September 6th, 2024

Genre: Melodic Death Metal

Country: Finland