Dragonknight's debut album Legions is an epic power metal odyssey born from friendship and a shared love for high fantasy. With grand tales, cinematic soundscapes, and heroic themes, it invites listeners into a world of triumph and adventure.
1. "Legions"
is your debut album, and it's an impressive conceptual journey. Can you tell us
how the idea of Dragonknight was born and what inspired you to create this
cinematic power metal experience?
Thank you!
The initial idea came very spontaneously and naturally a few years back. We are
longtime friends and have had many musical projects and bands in the past
ranging in different genres, mainly metal but not limited to. Before
Dragonknight there had been many years where none of us had really actively
listened to or composed metal. Power metal is something that, however, has
really been something that is very near to our hearts.
One day,
sometime in the spring of 2022, one of us just popped the question: “Should we
make some power metal once again?”. What started out as an innocent question
between friends grew very fast to something bigger. Fast forward a few months
and we had loads of demos that we thought sounded very good. We didn’t really
plan ahead, but suddenly we realized that we had an album's worth of material
that we were super excited by and happy about. It all went very effortlessly
since we didn’t try to achieve something in particular, we just poured out the
material that apparently had been brewing inside all of us for many years and
just went with the flow.
2. The
album tells grand tales of battles, mythical realms, and heroism. How do you
approach writing lyrics that balance storytelling and the epic feel power metal
fans love?
I think you
are spot on with grand tales and heroism. We’re all very big fans of high
fantasy, ranging from literature to games, music and art. We really enjoy the
idea of magical realms with mystical forces and grand heroes. We really do like
epic tales and stories! We have three songwriters in Dragonknight and while the
finished songs are always a team effort, the core song is mainly written by one
person: Lord Gryphon, Lord Kharatos or Lord Solarius. In most of the songs, the
songwriter started out with an idea of a song, a story concept one could say,
and then composed a song around it. That means that most of our songs have the
same composer and lyricist and the final product is their musical and lyrical
vision of the theme.
Since we
enjoy our fantasy so much and write our themes around it, I’m pretty sure that
other fantasy fans also enjoy it!
3. With
songs like "Pirates Bloody Pirates!" and "Return to
Atlantis," the album explores diverse themes. How do you weave together
these stories into a cohesive album narrative?
When
Dragonknight was born, it was quickly decided that the music and its thematic
would be of such nature commonly found within the genre but not locked to only
one specific theme. In the world of Dragonknight you will need to conquer
ancient evil from below, fight furious undead pirates at sea and witness a
bunch of dead kings get their final revenge after being dead for quite a while.
And could there possibly be a more triumphant way to end an album than by
reconquering the mystical Atlantis?
While writing the music there actually was not that much discussion
between the Lords on where they wanted to take the themes and lyrics, they
wrote their own material, they liked it and it all matched together into what
then became "Legions". With a long history of working together, you
kind of learn how one works and with some alchemy from ancient realms, the
x-factor, the result becomes quite cohesive.
4. Each
of you are seasoned musicians. How has your experience in the Finnish metal
scene influenced the sound and direction of Dragonknight?
There truly
are a lot of metal bands from Finland, but in the power metal genre, not that
many actually. Most Finnish power metal bands are more like hybrids of modern
metal and power metal. Not like truly epic and heroic tales and with bombastic
battles. Nothing wrong with that either, but we wanted to take an approach
which is closer to power metal bands in Sweden, Germany and Italy for instance.
Having worked in projects and bands in different subgenres of metal is
obviously a great benefit. Perspective in music is never a bad thing.
5. The
production of "Legions" is stunning, with contributions from Mikael
Grönroos and Svante Forsbäck. What was the recording process like, and how did
you achieve such a cinematic sound?
Lord
Kharatos, Lord Gryphon and Lord Solarius each made their recordings in their
own dungeons. Mikael Salo, Lord Salo Khan, recorded his vocal parts in his home
studio with excellent quality, and Lord Othrakis visited Crownhook Studio in
Helsinki where Mikael Grönroos recorded the bass. Mikael Grönroos is also one
of the few who had access to the shadow sanctums of infinite echoes of the
Dragonlords, from where he gathered the bits and pieces and mixed everything
together at Crownhook studios. Mikael states that: "it was a pleasure
working with the material. When everything was so well recorded, performed and
most of all, well arranged, the songs almost mixed themselves. The fabulous
orchestration by Lord Kharatos plays a big role in the sound of Dragonknight,
which meant that much space needed to be carved out in the frequency spectrum
and also dynamically, for the orchestra to shine. It's always a puzzle getting
everything to fit together when the track count reaches 200 and more, but it's
a puzzle I like solving, especially when the vision of the picture you are
creating is quite clear from the start. Svante Forsbäck, who mastered the
album, polished it all with a gentle, yet very important touch making
"Legions" a sonic journey worth listening to, no matter the
platform."
6. The
track titles are evocative, from "Sword of the Northern Lights" to
"Dead Kings in the Grave." Could you share a favorite track and the
story behind it?
This is a
bit of a tricky question since we do really like all tracks and every single
track on the album plays an important part in making the album complete. At the
risk of sounding cliché, we think every song on “Legions” has an unique
identity both musically and storywise. But if we wanted to pick one or two
tracks that we would want new listeners to listen to first, they would probably
be “The Imperator” and “The Legions of Immortal Dragonlords”. They were picked
as first and second singles for a reason since we think they are a good
introduction to Dragonknight.
7. Your
sound draws comparisons to bands like Blind Guardian and Gloryhammer. What sets
Dragonknight apart from other power metal bands, and how do you put your unique
stamp on the genre?
We have
listened to and played a lot of power metal music during the years. Everything
from the older power generation of bands such as Helloween, Blind Guardian,
Manowar and Rhapsody to the newer generation of bands such as Gloryhammer and
Twilight Force. We have probably picked up a lot of influences from all these
bands over the years unknowingly and incorporated it into our own style of
playing and writing music. I think all these influences combined with our
history of playing many other metal genres makes Dragonknight sound unique.
8. The
album artwork by Tommi Aaltonen is striking. How does the visual art complement
the music, and what role does it play in the overall concept of Dragonknight?
Well, we
feel that although the music came first, the visuals are nearly as important!
The art definitely plays a fundamental role - Tommi is a one-in-a-million of an
artist with amazing vision and a brush-stroke to remember! We really wanted to
have visually stunning art, created by hand and to have some grit on it. The
concept of Dragonknight was at the outset a very “visual band”, with the songs
being kind of story concepts as referred to above and as such worthy of
pictures, cinematic videos etc. To cut a long story short, the images of the
Lords, the Legionnaires in their masks and capes, and the fall of Atlantis were
visualized by Tommi beautifully; we are extremely lucky to have had the
pleasure of working with him and hopefully can continue our journey together
later on…!
9. You’ve
included both digipack and vinyl formats for "Legions." With the
resurgence of vinyl, do you see physical formats as an essential part of
connecting with your fans?
Yes, at
least partially. Some people want to consume their music completely digitally
and that’s okay. But those who like to own a physical record really enjoy the
aspect of having something in their hands to look at and touch. One of our
wishes for the “Legions” album was that it would be released as vinyl and we’re super happy that it is happening. It
will be released as a marbled red version and will look awesome. And as
mentioned earlier, we are super happy with the artwork for the album by Tommi.
A big format as vinyl really makes the art stand out with all details. If
you’re into physical releases we highly recommend that you pick up one of the
physical releases, cd or vinyl. While the vinyl version has an awesome looking
vinyl with the big artwork, the cd has a booklet with additional unique custom
made art for the album and some further lore about Dragonknight.
10. Power
metal thrives on live energy. Are there any plans for a tour or live
performances where fans can experience the Dragonknight call firsthand?
Dragonknight
is first and foremost a conceptual studio project more than a traditional band.
Our initial idea was to make epic music that we would ourselves like to listen
to, without actually thinking if songs themselves could be performed live. So
right now we are just looking forward to the release of our first album and
starting to write music for album number two. Never say never, though. We
aren’t ruling out performing live categorically. Maybe when the time is right
and the stars are in the correct constellation!
11. Thematically,
the album emphasizes resilience and triumph over adversity. How do these themes
resonate with you personally as musicians and as a band?
As
mentioned earlier, some of us have been friends for a very long time and worked
together on various projects over the years. However, for quite some time we
did not actively play together, but never lost contact. It might sound cheesy,
but after the innocent-sounding question “should we make some power metal
together?!” Dragonknight totally bound us together as when we were kids working
on our first bands together. Although not really adversity, we kind of found
the joy of making the music we loved together again after many years. I think
that speaks for itself, doesn’t it? Nowadays not a day goes by that we don’t
speak to each other of how excited we are of Dragonknight and continuing the
saga that now has its first chapters ready and soon to be released to the
public!
12. Lastly,
for fans about to dive into "Legions," how would you describe the
journey they’re about to undertake? What do you hope they’ll feel when they
listen to Dragonknight for the first time?
Dragons,
heroes, tales of triumph and glorious death are no light matters to be trifled
with!
Dragonknight
was born out of good spirits, good friends, and an unabashed love for the
fantasy the world of Dragonknight is; this is something we really want to get
across. We sincerely hope that the brothers and sisters who have a love as deep
and pure for the genre as we do, will listen to the album, headbang, sing along
and have goosebumps all over and after finishing the first, second or 100th
spin of it, have a grin on their face and be ready to take whatever the day
throws at them.
The Legion
welcomes you with pride, should you -
with a sparkle in your eye - wish to join us in the choruses, raise
toasts to your friends and foes alike, and, if it should come to that, DIE FOR
METAL!
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