Dragonlord--Rapture

Dragonlord--Rapture (2001/Spitfire) Rating--8.4

Dragonlord is the Black Metal project of Testament's Eric Peterson, and he makes it an almost entire-Testament affair, as joining him are Steve Smythe, Steve DiGiorgio, and John Allen. Keyboards are added to the fray, and what you have is one ripping, evil, atmospheric black metal experience.
As can be expected, the guitar sound is extremely thrash-driven, and a great deal of the music is extremely reminiscent of the past few Testament albums. There are nasty riffs and notes, and crunching & slashing back rhythms. The main differences, of course, are the occasional Black drum paces, and the high-end vocals that Peterson employs. He does a great job handling the mic, and several songs ("Born to Darkness" and "Judgement Failed") have "regular" vocals sections worked in-- where we are further treated to a very nice voice indeed.
Thrash fans, Black/Death fans, and recent Testament fans alike should all find goodies that they like here.
The driving, stabbing rhythm of "Tradition and Fire" is strong, and both the aforementioned "Born to Darkness" and "Spirits in the Mist" are solid. A fast, thrashy pace moves "Wolfhunt," while disc-closer "Rapture" gives out a hail to Testament's 'The Gathering,' as it features the same tooling (though slightly modified) intro as "Riding the Snake".
With supposedly half the tracks already written for the next effort, this looks like a tasty side project that we'll have around for awhile.
TRACK LIST: Vals De La Meurte/Unholyvoid/Tradition and Fire/Born to Darkness/Judgement Failed/Wolfhunt/Spirits in the Mist/Rapture

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