A Dracula

A couple years before this writing, I reviewed Vegas-based Demon Lung's debut album, The Hundredth Name, and found it to be very good. Their sophomore LP, A Dracula, continues in the same vein and with similar quality, but shows some songwriting maturity since the last time around. The heaviness and portentous nature of the riffs are still there, and so is the atmosphere I noted the first time around. Behold, the Daughter starts fast, the palm-muted guitar and drumming hammering underneath the dull wail of Shanda Fredrik's vocals, but slows to a speed ever-so-slightly-slower than Candlemass, a band that their riffs have some influence from. In addition to the guitar-driven doom of before, there's also a bit of Hammond organ in the background this time, and some of the harmonizing guitar in Gypsy Curse, while fitting into the doom sound perfectly, is certainly a little different than the otherwise-traditional riffing, since even with an updated delivery, the riffs on there still sound like an slightly-updated reading of the latter portion of Black Sabbath. Fredrik's vocals come in two varieties; thin and processed through electronic FX, or big and echoing. I must say I like the latter much better; Deny the Savior, which otherwise doesn't have a lot going for it, is improved substantially by the drama of her low, rolling singing. I expected Mark of Jubilee to be similar, since it was in the same key and started with a similar tone, but a few minutes in, it breaks to a toned-down, quiet lullaby of sorts, with Fredrik's vocals dropping to a soft, almost caressing tone. I had wondered at times if she was capable of singing any other way than a loud vibrato, and this was a welcome change; there's more variety in this song, which I liked best of all the tracks here. Though I was slightly disappointed that Demon Lung hasn't innovated a whole lot here since last time, A Dracula is still a strong showing with a high-quality sound and plenty of the massive riffing they showed off last time. Definitely worth a listen or two for the traditionalist listener of doom.