Weapon - Drakonian Paradigm

October 6, 2009

Reviewer: Peter

Since the mid 1980’s, black metal has been a part of the metal music scene.  So it should be no surprise that there are a number of bands in the genre who are trying to make a name for themselves, with many of them falling flat on their collective corpse painted faces.  Enter the enigma that is Weapon.  Not much is known about them, other than they formed in 2003 and they have their debut out this year in Drakonian Paradigm.  In listening to the album, it becomes clear that the band would like for the music to speak for them instead of having some word filler.

Weapon’s sound is primarily black metal, but also has some death and heavy metal influences, as well.  The first track “Weapon” is an instrumental that showcases the band’s musical abilities, with some guitar soloing and proficient drumming.  The vocals don’t figure into the mix until the second track “Cacophony! Black Sun Dragon’s Tongue!”  It is there that we truly find out the about band’s strengths and weaknesses.  The strengths of the album include a strong sense of music writing, as each song is bound to get the head moving back and forth in a violent motion.  The guitar solos aren’t mind blowing by any means, but they do add to the sound and are placed in spots where they won’t get lost in the mix.  The vocals are remarkably consistent and despite the rather death metal sound, they are audible and can be distinguished from all of the other bands that use the Cookie Monster vocals.  All of this is just on the second track of the album, so one wonders how the rest of the album would hold up.  The vocals also have a little bit of narrator in them, as well, as “Remnants of a Burnt Mosque” displays.  The author-like vocals at the end of the song are solid and don’t come off as cheesy.  There’s even instances of a sitar playing on some of the songs like “Serpentine Ayat,” which adds a new wrinkle to the sound.  As for the bad on Drakonian Paradigm, the production values could be better, as it tends to water down the drumming a little.  Also, the group vocals on songs such as “Serpentine Ayat” sound a little weak.  That doesn’t mean Drakonian Paradigm is a total loss, as there is much on the album that suggests Weapon will go far.

Weapon is one of the few black metal bands that would prefer to let their music speak for them, and as Drakonian Paradigm proves, they are right to do so.  A very solid, uncompromising black metal album, there is much to gain from the 40 minutes that the album encompasses.  If they could fix one of the two problem areas on the album, then Weapon could be more potent than what their band name suggests.

Release Date: June 24th, 2009
Label: The Ajna Offensive

TRACK LISTING

1.  Weapon
2.  Cacophony! Black Sun
      Dragon’s Tongue!
3.  Serpentine Ayat
4.  Mortem Pyre
     (In Darkness and Blood)
5.  Archana
6.  Drakonian Paradigm:
     The Flame of All
7.  Remnants of a
     Burnt Mosque

Total playing time: 40:40

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