siLLy puPPy DRACONIS was one of the many latecomers to the second wave of black metal and formed in 1995 but decided to crash the party anyways. This band followed the path of Dissection with a hybridized style of Darkthrone fashioned evil kvlt black metal that added the technical prowess of death metal. Haling from Temecula, California, DRACONIS nailed the Swedish deathened black metal sound perfectly with its debut release OVERLORDS OF THE GREYING DAWN which came out in 1997.

This album featured ten tracks at 37 minutes with the lineup of Mike Pardi (guitars, vocals), Ryan Levee (guitrars, vocals), Gary Miranda (bass) and Chris Carmichael (drums). The double guitar effect gives DRACONIS a big sound drenched with heavy tremolo picking, filthy raw distortion and a rampaging evil sounding black metal with hefty death metal workouts. The drumming is particularly good for black metal of this era with more technical gymnastics than the average band of the 90s.

Similar to bands like Dissection and Necrophobic, DRACONIS did its homework well to imitate these Swedish masters but while displaying an outstanding version of mimicry fails to really stand out in any way as the compositions sound fairly by the books for a band that released its debut in the year 1997 when bands like Enslaved, Emperor, Ulver, Summoning and Nagelfar were releasing albums that were much more advanced in the originality department. This album would’ve been great in 1991-93 but needed something more dynamic to really stand out at this point.

Not a bad album by any means. The tracks are executed with fiery precision and the album evokes the anti-Christian vitriol that black metal represented in those early years with pseudo-intellectual rants about such esoterica. Obviously this band didn’t have the time or patience to hone its craft beyond the parameters of what had already been done and was content to deliver a rather decent style that was highly derivative of the Swedish deathened black metal scene. The band released an EP in 1999 and then waited until 2010 to release its second offering “The Cult Of The Dragon” and then disbanded in 2016. This is above average black metal for sure but lacks that special something that makes it a top priority.

Hellion Draconis is a Black/Death metal band from Southern California, and "The Cult of the Dragon" is their latest recording. Filled with catchy and intricate riffing, spot-on drumming with technical flare, and insane vocals, "The Cult of the Dragon" pays homage to the glory days of blackened death metal (i.e. Dissection, Necrophobic, Sacramentum, Emperor, Dismember,) with a twist of thrashy riffing and rhythm matching ANYTHING Lamb of God, Exodus, Testament, or Forbidden has ever brought to the table. Production is stellar with the exception of the vocals being a bit distant, however this may be the band's preference as some vocal parts are accented and/or double tracked to give more emphasis to certain parts of the song. Compared to their earlier material this release CRUSHES, attention to detail is displayed on every single one of the 9 tracks on this disc, including the instrumental "Unveiling the Hidden Knowledge" and is particularly evident on the album opener: "Exalted Infernal Legions" the title track "The Cult of the Dragon - Authors of all Pain" and the EPIC: "Curse of Salvation" I give this release a 9 out of 10, check out the songs at their myspace: www.myspace.com/officialdraconis