DRAKONIS: Belfast Black Metal Outfit Announce ‘Blessed by Embers’… Posted: 16/01/2020 by John O'Brien
Northern Irish black metal outfit Drakonis have unveiled details for the much anticipated forthcoming record “Blessed By Embers”, following up on great acclaim garnered from their more recent concept work, late 2017’s “The Great Miasma”. Their debut full length is a story driven concept spanning eight songs. Each taking us through a different chapter following the rise and fall of a charismatic cult leader, who allows darkness and fire to shape and purify his followers, ‘The Wretched’.
“Blessed By Embers” is out April 3rd via Hostile Media and is available to pre-order at www.hostilemedia.net/shop.
TRACK LISTING:
1. Threnody
2. From The Eternal
3. Fear Of The Wretched
4. Blessed By Embers
5. Of Dusk And Of Pyre
6. As The Rot
7. All Is Still
8. An Anthem Of Ashes
Based in Northern Ireland, DRAKONIS focus heavily on the live spectacle, blending a mixture of contemporary black and death metal, to create something without the limitations of one genre. Not wanting to work to a strict template, the band dips in and out of many styles to create music which is both atmospherically uplifting, yet devastatingly brutal.
Initially formed under the working ‘ORDER OF SHADOW’ (at the time including Gareth Murdock of ALESTORM), DRAKONIS has been an ongoing project for many years, featuring Saul McMichael and Lee McCartney of pagan metal veterans, WAYLANDER. The band remained a studio project until 2015, when a line up was assembled to take things to the live arena.
Over the past 5 years the band has brought not just extreme metal to the live circuit, but a highly visual experience. Armed with corpse paint, blood, skulls, spikes, chain mail and live orchestral samples, the band’s entire energy revolves around the live stage show, and will only grow in scale as the band evolves.
The band quickly caught the attention of the local scene, with their “Ravens Fuel The Sky” EP, which they used as a platform to release their follow up, “As They Rot”. This release was extremely well received by both fans and critics alike, placing it in several ‘Best of 2016’ lists, including winning ‘Uber Rocks International EP of the Year 2016’, tying with VOIVOD.
With so many reviews asking for an album, the band decided to hold off on that idea and release one more EP, this time on a much larger scale. Therefore “The Great Miasma” came into being, a story driven concept spanning three songs. Each song taking its listener through a different chapter, following the ritualistic sacrifice, possession and wrath of a young girl to appease an ancient god.
With “The Great Miasma” alone, the band were able to take a huge leap forward, securing headline slots at Hammerfest, Manchester Death Feast, plus many supporting slots for big name international acts such as, ACKERCOCKE, HECATE ENTHRONED, PESTILENCE, MORTIIS and SIKTH.
With enough spotlight on the band, it was time to take things to the next level and start work on the debut album. “Blessed by Embers” was written over a 2 year period, while being recorded, mixed and mastered by Saul McMichael in his home studio. At the same time Saul, Lee and Steve were working on a WAYLANDER album, with the aim to release both within a month of each other. But due to tour and festival commitments with WAYLANDER, “Blessed by Embers” was intentionally delayed for an additional 12 months to give it its own dedicated time in the spotlight. This time was used to recruit Sarah Prior on keyboards and clean vocals, to elevate the bands live performance to match what was being produced in the studio.
