Tormentor Erich: Nautical metal, does that exist? Officially not, but when a band dresses their whole album up in the atmosphere of water, rain, old ships and dragons, then I am the last one to say that they can’t name their music nautical metal. But don’t confuse it with Viking metal. Dagon is healing from Michigan (USA), and there they also have a lot of water and stories about sailors from long ago, but they did not have any Vikings over there.
The nautical metal by Dagon can best be described as thrash metal with some modern influences (I mean those typical riffs) and it is also filled with a lot of melody. Despite the double vocals (dark grunts and black metal screams) the songs from Dagon have got an easy listening touch. The choruses that are very present play a big role here and although there are some firmer tracks like ‘Full Speed Ahead’ at hand they never play too extreme. This does not mean that Dagon has created a soft or only halfway finished album with ‘Terraphobic’. Far from it, I would even like to say that the song writing, the technical skills from the band members and the overall impression (artwork and production) is all done just fine. Sometimes bands put out albums that are made with two thoughts and therefore the songs seem to be too hard or too weak. This is not a problem that Dagon has to worry about. These guys know exactly how to use all these elements and how to make good and compact songs like ‘To The Drums We Rise' or ’The Sea Encompassing‘, and if you listen carefully to the whole album you can even spot some subtle bass fills and some groovy parts as well.
With a clear theme and a well made CD Dagon from Michigan (USA) surprised me. No Viking metal, but nautical metal it is. A pleasant variation I must say.
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