Dragonknight – Legions Review

By Eldritch Elitist

A not-insignificant number of my favorite power metal acts are “noun noun” bands. Power Quest. Twilight Force. Fellow Ship. There’s something about smashing two overwrought people, places, and/or things together that perfectly fits power metal’s prerequisite for excess, and Dragonknight is one of my favorite band names to come out of the genre in recent memory. I’m a little less enthused that their identities are hidden behind their confusingly uniform, copy-paste Slipknot masks1, but between their ludicrously opulent logo and Legions’ hilariously literal cover art, Dragonknight is one of the more immediately striking power metal acts to debut on Scarlet Records. Of course, with Frozen Crown and Fellowship being alums from the same label, the bar is set in the stratosphere; as Legions shows, that bar is not easily reached.

Explaining what DragonKnight sounds like would be markedly less expeditious than describing who they sound like, as Legions sees the band feasting upon a veritable buffet of inspirations. A bespoke influence seemingly accompanies each track; Gloryhammer (“Dead Kings in the Grave”), Beast in Black (“Sword of the Northern Lights”), and mercifully not Alestorm but rather Running Wild (“Pirates, Bloody Pirates!”) serve as some of Legions’ more obvious sources of inspiration. While DragonKnight’s aesthetic varies widely across this album, it’s all tied together with an overarching symphonic flair that keeps the proceedings from sounding overly disjointed. Moreover, Legions sounds technically competent and professional, traits which should be a given but are too often scarce in the genre. For many power metal fans, the level of execution alone may be satisfying.

Dragonknight may presently be more concerned with emulating the successes of modern power metal than innovating the game. Still, I also get the sense that the band had a ton of fun making Legions, so it manages not to tip my cynicism meter to the red. I do, however, find myself increasingly annoyed with this album for a potentially more damning reason: It’s just kinda bland. There are certainly highlights between “The Imperator”‘s Dream Evil-goes-symphonic march and “The Revelation2“‘s condensed galloping rush, but much of Legions lacks urgency and excitement. Instrumental flair is absent outside of the frequently excellent guitar solos, and while the melodies are generally pleasant, Dragonknight fails to capitalize on their solid foundation with the giant melodic swings that define the genre. Legions isn’t forgettable, per se, but it fails to make an impression where it matters most.

Legions hits me with all the force of a lukewarm bucket of water at least in part due to its production choices. The album sounds quite nice from a technical perspective, carrying a meatier low-end presence than most power metal records allow which effectively balances the symphonic bombast. The instruments themselves, however, lack tonal character, their generic metallic edge failing to cut through the swaths of synths. Singer and sole named member Lord Salo Khan (Mikael Salo, Everfrost3) also lacks power in many scenarios, with his voice failing to deliver a convincing presence of power in Legions’ most melodic tracks, namely “Storm Bringer.” At other times, however, he excels; the conviction with which he delivers the lyric “Sailing ships with great dexterity!” goes a long way in making “Pirates Bloody Pirates!” another early highlight of Dragonknight’s career.

I reference Dragonknight in context with a hypothetical future as it’s one that I hope comes to fruition. Their debut left me with a stronger first impression than this review and its score implies, but I ultimately found Legions lacking in staying power, my mind struggling not to wander towards the dozens of better records it reminds me of as I ventured past my first couple of spins. Dragonknight has the talent and songwriting chops to excel on future outings, but they need to work on identifying and honing their strengths rather than spreading themselves thin with an overly ambitious scope. If Dragonknight can succeed in this regard, they may well find themselves on equal footing with their peers. As it stands today, they are a decent imitation of their influences, but sincere flattery can only carry them so far.

Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 256 kbps mp3
Label: Scarlet Records
Websites: scarletrecords.bandcamp.com/album/legions | dragonknightband.com | facebook.com/dragonknightband
Releases Worldwide: January 17th, 2025

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Jeris Johnson – Dragonborn Review

By Dear Hollow

If you don’t know Jeris Johnson, let that horrendously edited self-portrait that would feel like a masterpiece of character design on Nintendo 64, like Lara Croft’s pyramid boobs, really sink in. For the uninitiated, he’s that guy who partnered with Papa Roach for a “reloaded” version of “Last Resort;” he did a collaboration with Bring Me the Horizon for a remix of “Can You Feel My Heart.” For the initiated, he is big on YouTube and TikTok. For his first full-length Dragonborn, you might be confused about what exactly this album sounds like. I’ve repeatedly spun it, and I remain confused.

What Dragonborn does is drags pop versions of metal, rock, electronic, and hip-hop kicking and screaming into an album entirely devoted to TikTok trends like the “Hoist the Colors” bass vocal covers, Ronnie Radke’s antics, sea shanties, and melodies ripped from classic songs. Jeris Johnson helms the craft with a very confused charisma, a grungy smoky tenor that tries to adapt to the clusterfuck of influences, forcing a square peg of Viking and fantasy imagery through the round holes of trap music, nu-metal, and hard rock. Insufferably bland at best and unbearably awful at worst, influences slamming across the universe with Falling in Reverse-esque abandon. Dragonborn is as bad as you can imagine, and often worse.

Let’s start with the good mediocre passable tolerable. “John” is a dad-rock anthem with a decently written chorus that worms its way into your brain whether you like it or not – conjuring the likes of Nickelback or Staind. Jeris’ cover of Seal’s “Kiss from a Rose,” while utterly unnecessary and only adding a weaker vocal performance to song’s legacy, is as okay as a pop/rock song you hear on the radio in the mid-2000s. Otherwise, Dragonborn’s strengths shine as brief glimmers of potential in isolated passages: the Korpiklaani-inspired plucking in the intro title track isn’t bad; the riffs of “When the Darkness Comes,” “Down with the Dynasty,” and “Not a Person (Freak)” have some weight at first. Johnson’s voice is also capable and has potential, even if he can’t seem to write a solid verse, chorus, or bridge to save his life.1 So, uh, we’re in fucking trouble.

Perhaps the biggest and dumbest thing about Jeris Johnson is his ability to make an audio train wreck impossible to look away from. Interpolations are perhaps most jarring. “When the Darkness Comes” features a central melody stolen from the Arabian riff (aka “Streets of Cairo”) in an “I guess the minor key works if you’re into that” way, the central melody of “Siren Song” is unashamedly robbed from the fucking Christmas goddamn classic hymn “What Child is This?” for fuck sake and I never thought I would be checking that off of my 2024 bingo card. Meanwhile, “Story of Our Lives” tries to force electronic, trap, rap, and Tyr-esque medieval melodies into an orgy with no chemistry; “Welcome to Valhalla” feels like you wanted “Hoist the Colors” to be both a Wardruna cut and a trap metal song by Travis Scott; “Here’s to the Years” features an Alestorm-meets-Dropkick Murphys pirate vibe plus Irish shanty jig that makes me wanna puke; “Down with the Dynasty” is basically a metal cover of “Centuries” by Fall Out Boy without any fun or catchiness; “Not a Person (Freak)” features a We Butter the Bread with Butter-inspired shuddering deathcore breakdown that is only iterated fucking once; “Eat Drink War Repeat” is basically a Brokencyde song with all the soul-crushing cringe and likewise not knowing what sex is; “Ode to Metal” is just a rap/punk song that Ronnie Radke would start beef with someone over; and “Finish Line” is basically a Five Finger Death Punch power ballad. The independent nature of Dragonborn is also plain bad, as Jeris Johnson’s autotuned gaffs shine through “Story of Our Lives” and “When the Darkness Comes” with piercing clarity.

So what’s left? A singer/songwriter who has no idea what kind of album he actually wants. Is he a Viking king? A club-frequenting playboy? A hair-flipping fan of Falling in Reverse? Someone who would actually defend Ronnie Radke on Instagram? Someone who’s likes Shrezzers’ “PVRNHVB”? I’ll tell you who Jeris Johnson is: he’s an influencer on YouTube and TikTok. And Dragonborn is an experiment of the most embarrassing variety, but ultimately is not intended for us. I mean, if you’re into unnecessary variety and TikTok trends, have at it. I need to sit down.

Rating: 0.5/5.0
DR: N/A | Format Reviewed: STREAM
Label: Self-Released
Websites: jerisjohnson.com | facebook.com/killjerisjohnson | tiktok.com/@jerisjohnson
Releases Worldwide: August 23rd, 2024

#05 #2024 #Alestorm #AmericanMetal #Aug24 #BringMeTheHorizon #Brokencyde #Deathcore #Dragonborn #DropkickMurphys #Electronic #FallOutBoy #FallingInReverse #FiveFingerDeathPunch #FolkMetal #HardRock #HipHop #JerisJohnson #Korpiklaani #Metalcore #MorganWallen #Nickelback #NonMetal #NuMetal #PapaRoach #PirateMetal #Pop #PopRock #PostGrunge #Punk #Review #Reviews #Seal #SelfRelease #Shrezzers #staind #TaylorSwift #Trap #TravisScott #Tyr #VikingMetal #Wardruna #WeButterTheBreadWithButter