Dragon – Unde Malum

It must have been in the early 00’s that I snatched a batch of vinyl records of eBay (or something similar) and I also grabbed a copy of Dragon’s ‘Horda Goga’. I had never heard of it, but I liked the band name and the fantasy-inspired cover that reminded me of those early US Heavy (Power) Metal bands like Omen, Attacker and Chastain. If I am not mistaken I picked it up for about €5. A bet that ended up pretty well. The album, that appeared to be the Polish band’s debut album from 1989, sounded rough and extremely unpolished in both sound and song writing. But I eventually ended up falling in love with this sort of Eastern European sort of extreme metal.

Prior to that debut album the band appeared on several compilation albums with other early Polish Heavy/Thrash Metal bands like Wolf Spider and Turbo and cemented their name quite solidly into the Polish metal scene of the 80’s. But the band never got anything going out of the borders of their native country, just like many bands at the time. That preserving environment may have led to the few albums still released in the 90s having a similar sound – miles behind in effectiveness compared to western metal albums. Although the sharpness of the music diminished as the 90s progressed, a certain sound of their own remained recognisable. By the year 2000, the band called it a day, until (relatively) recently. In 2016, the band returned and made themselves heard as early as 2021 through the ‘Arcydzieło Zagłady’ album. The band’s line-up has been completely revamped, though; in addition to guitarist of the first hour Jarek Gronowski, vocalist Adrian Frelich, who had been behind the microphone since 1989, is also back. On bass, scene veteran and former Kat bassist Krzysztof “Fazi” Oset has joined, with a drummer who could have been the son of any of the other three gentlemen to close the line-up.

Meanwhile, we have arrived at the follow-up to what we may call the ‘comeback album’. Of course, not only do we dive into the album, but this is also a good time to take stock and see how Dragon is doing anno 2023.

Just to start with a conclusion, today’s Dragon has nothing to do with the band I got to know some 20 years ago. The so charming and somewhat shaky sound and still somewhat naive playing has completely disappeared. In its place has come a pretty heavy and solid sound, hardly any more Thrash Metal. Because of the thick grunts and the guitar sound, we can definitely call this a Death Metal record. Albeit one that does lean on some groove and other modernities. Something quite remarkable in itself from a band founded in 1984. On top of that, the band adds progressive and acoustic elements to the music so that, along with the staccato riffs, some comparisons to Meshuggah and Pink Floyd can be drawn (!). While on the first part of the title track (‘Unde Malum I’) the band has very obvious similarities to Behemoth on their last three records (‘Satanist’ and up to ‘Opvs Contra Natvram’), not in the very least place because of Frelich’s similar vocals to those of Nergal’s on his newest works.

It should go without saying that the culture shock is complete, despite the fact that the previous album had somewhat prepared me for it. The musical progression is stunning, not only between ‘Horda Goga’ and this latest work, but also between the previous album and this new one. For those who, like me, still know the band from a period that seems like a century ago and want to give the band another chance, it might be wise to give it a listen before purchasing. Because although ‘Unde Malum’ is a fine album, the behaviour of a shapeshifting dragon turns out to be rather unpredictable.