Dragons is a band which takes its influence from the likes of Depeche Mode and Joy Division; Dragons is a band that tries to recreate the exact sound of both of these bands in fact. It’s difficult to listen to any of the ten tracks present on this ‘Here are the Roses’ album without scratching your head and wondering ‘Haven’t I heard these songs before?’ The Answer to that question you ask yourself would probably be no, it’s just that Dragons sound is copied entirely from the two aforementioned artists and the band attempts to put to record nothing in the least bit new or original here. The album has a run time of just over 43 minutes, and unless you want to listen to an inferior Joy Division album then there’s really no reason to put yourself through the whole ordeal of listening to this album.
From opening title track ‘Here Are the Roses’ right through to the closer ‘Forever’ the music always is incredibly weak and never particularly exciting or in fact interesting to listen to. The vocals are depressing in their tone, and the artists sound is clearly heavily influenced here by 80s electronica. The album is bland in its progression and every single track present here possesses the same dreary vocal tone.
If every element of the music wasn’t entirely stolen from other artists then I’d probably enjoy this album a little more than I do; sadly the members of Dragons don’t have an inch of creativity present in their collective bodies however and the music therefore fails miserably here. There are a couple of tracks present here that are reasonably enjoyable to listen to; ‘Obedience’ for instance has a little more about it than much of the rest of the album, and ‘Epiphany’ possesses an absolutely brilliant drum solo in its introduction; much of the album drones along depressingly however and more often than not here Anthony Tombling Jr.’s (lead vocalist) vocal tone sends me half to sleep.
Dragons only formed in 2005 and ‘Here are the Roses’ is the bands début album, I can’t see the band returning for another however and if a second album ever does emerge then Dragons will have to put a lot more into it than this. Dragons blends post-punk elements with 80s electronica also, and were I to compare them to a current modern day band then it’d probably be Editors; Dragons is not as good a band as Editors however and the bands members do I feel lack the talent and creativity to ever be as big a name as Birminhgam’s Editors.
If you’re a big fan of post-punk revival artists then you may well have some sort of an interest in the music of Dragons. Dragons is most definitely not the best post-punk revival act currently in existence however and for a more entertaining listening experience I’d definitely recommend listening to the Editors instead, or maybe even the artists that Dragons is so keen to try and emulate here; Depeche Mode and Joy Division.
Label: OHM
Release Date: June 4th 2007
Rating:
UK based film graduate with a huge passion for music, sports and video games.
