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Holy Dragons - Obitely Vetrov (7,5/10) - Kazakhstan - 1999/2004

Kazakhstan’s (to my knowledge) only Power Metal band is coming through with two re-recordings and a brand new disc. “Obitely Vetrov“ is the newly recorded version of the 1999 album “House Of The Winds“, just with the current singer Holger Komaroff and Russian vocals, which is a bit surprising, as most bands rather navigate into the other direction, but in the case of HOLY DRAGONS this is a welcome step, as the Russian language in my opinion really fits Metal.

“Obitely Vetrov“ altogether is a bit more earthy than the 2003 album “Gцtterdдmmerung“, at times standing more in the traditional Heavy Metal, the trademarks of the band’s sound still are there, though, this being the driving double-bass, intricate guitars, very catchy melodies and Komaroff’s expressive, mid-pitched voice, nothing overly original, but the Russian lyrics definitely are helpful.

“Stal Za Stal“ is a genretypical fast opener with driving double-bass, super catchy melody, which is very well continued by the following “Propochestvo Bogov“ with its very playful guitars. The third song, “Dostalo!“, finally shows the already mentioned Heavy Metal influence, very stomping mid-tempo that could fill the arenas of the world. And the hymnic “Gnev Drakonikh Bogov“ also is right up my alley! “Vikingi Metalla“ then stands in the Eighties, up to the hips, not just the structure, but also the almost reverb-free sound, while the title track is firmly rooted in Power Metal again, showing the class of this band.

HOLY DRAGONS definitely are not reinventors of Power Metal, but the more CDs of the Kazakhs I hear, the more I realize that the band from Almaty does not only have talent, but also is able to transfer that into mature compositions, which nicely stay away from bombast and should really work well with Power Metal fans. (Online October 13, 2005)

http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=8609

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Holy Dragons - Polunochniy Grom (7/10) - Kazakhstan - 2000/2004

Part two of the newly re-done early HOLY DRAGONS works listens to the name “Polunochniy Grom“ and originally was released in 2000 (back then still as “Thunder In The Night“), just like “Obitely Vetrov“ before now with Holger Komaroff on the mic and with completely Russian lyrics. As I have already covered the Kazakhs’ history in the other reviews, I will directly go to the music.

Opener “V Poyskakh Edinoroga“ shows the band a good whack faster than on the previous album, driving, with blistering guitar runs and riffs and an inspired vocal performance of Komaroff, very good start! And again the band around mastermind Jьrgen Thunderson (you don’t have to know Russian to figure this name is a pseudonym) uses the special sound of the Russian language and not so generic melody lines to get that special something into their sound, managing to sound different.

Another characteristic of the first three tracks, ok, two other ones are the increased use of driving double-bass and for the first time a few choirs, which add something to the still quite un-bombastic sound and also are used wisely. What some of the songs suffer from, though, is the at times quite mechanically sounding, which in most cases sounds quite homogenously, yet here and there gets a bit out of control, so to say.

After that we get a certain sag (for two songs), before “Sekretnye Materialni“ brings back some of the energy and class, even though they still suffer from the reduced power, which only impressively returns on the heavy, fast guitar/double-bass thunderstorm “Voyni Ledyanykh Pustin“, one of my personal faves of HOLY DRAGONS!

Unfortunately “Polunochniy Grom“ does not fully convince, as they take out too much of the power in the middle, but for that they compensate it with some of the best songs of the band history, which still makes the album recommendable in the end, albeit not as a first contact for HOLY DRAGONS. (Online October 14, 2005)

http://www.metal-observer.com/articles.php?lid=1&sid=1&id=8613