There was a time when metal bands needed to fly under the radar in Eastern Europe. Back in the Cold War days, communist regimes thought of metal as subversive -- and while metal wasn't impossible to find in Russia, Poland, or the former Czechoslovakia, it was rare and very, very underground. But times have certainly changed; in the post-communist, post-Cold War era, death metal and black metal bands are quite plentiful in parts of Eastern Europe. They aren't outselling
Kelly Clarkson, but they can cater to their cult audience of moshers without the fear of being harassed for promoting "counterrevolutionary" activity. One black metal band that has enjoyed a good reputation in the former Soviet Union is Belarus'
Asguard, which provides a solid dose of symphonic black metal on
Dreamslave. Some black metallers govern by brute force alone, but
Asguard prefers something more involved and intricate. This CD is loud and forceful -- lead singer Alexander Afonchenko and his colleagues aren't shy about providing their share of blastbeats -- but it is also fairly melodic (certainly by death metal/black metal standards) and has a real sense of songcraft. This isn't the type of band that gets all of its inspiration from, say,
Marduk or
Dark Funeral;
Asguard liberally incorporates elements of '80s power metal, combining their black metal intensity with a healthy awareness of old-school headbangers like
Judas Priest,
Iron Maiden,
Ronnie James Dio, and
Queensrÿche.
Dreamslave isn't innovative; countless other bands in Europe have embraced the symphonic black metal style. But what
Dreamslave lacks in originality, it makes up for in terms of quality and craftsmanship -- and the disc is worth exploring if one likes some intricacy along with his or her blastbeats.