Review by Felix on April 24, 2023.

The "Nibelungenlied", translated as "The Song of the Nibelungs", is an epic poem in Middle High German. This legendary tale deals with pure love, tragic heroes, murder, courtly culture, betrayal, and, maybe most important, loyalty. The proverbial "Nibelungentreue" has become a synonym for the highest form of loyalty. Modern minds confuse "Nibelungentreue" with another fine German word, the so-called "Kadavergehorsam", the slavish obedience till death. Furthermore, they say that Hitler's Wehrmacht followed exactly this way of thinking and therefore their conclusion is that any kind of German mentality sucks. With that said, forgive me for being a sucker.

Mystic Circle use the poem for their lyrical concept and the artwork shows the dragonslayer Siegfried, who is later killed by the sinister yet highly fascinating Hagen von Tronje. He, and not Siegfried, is the key player of the poem, a loyal servant and a brutal killer as well, who does absolutely not take care about his own fate. The seventh track bears his name, but unfortunately, it does not belong to the highlights of the album, which presents keyboard-soaked black metal. Yes, the keyboards play a very prominent role on "Drachenblut" and it needs no explanation that this fact is always dubious in terms of black metal. People who only accept the "De Mysteriis..." approach will hate this work and I understand their way of thinking. But good music has many forms and maybe "Drachenblut" is not a black metal album, but nevertheless a good work.

Rapid drumming and growling vocals lend the album a fairly murderous touch, but it was no good idea to start each and every regular track with its own (soft) intro. From my point of view, this way of proceeding hurts the flow of the album without adding a medieval or folkloric touch. Aggravating this situation, the mostly pretty boring introductions make clear that the individual tunes are rather too long than too short. Anyway, "Blood from the Xanten's King" marks an exception in view of its well performed piano intro. But this does not mean that only its beginning fascinates. As soon as the piano falls silent, the band marches into war with aggressive rhythms and unbridled energy. "King of the Nibelungenhord" is another song that mixes opulent keyboard sections with straight and fast parts in a strong manner. Its combination of depth and velocity sounds really exciting. Mystic Circle had the talent to write thrilling compositions, but sometimes they were not able to estimate their possibilities realistically. As a result, "Drachenblut" houses also songs that should have been designed in accordance with the old "less is more" dogma.

In order to do justice to the traditional myth, Mystic Circle intended to release an album with meticulously constructed songs, but they were not able to swallow the entire meal that they had ordered. Some tunes lack of coherence, good parts alternate with slightly ill-defined sections and in rare cases, the keyboards suck - just listen to their erratic tones in "The Dragonslayer". Anyhow, it was no question that I gave the album a serious chance while listening to each and every song several times. This, dear friends, is my interpretation of "Nibelungentreue".

Rating: 6.8 out of 10

Review by JD on June 26, 2013.

Can a band after a very amazing debut EP, come back and kick out one amazing Album that actually is even better?  If it was a band like Demon Lung that has both the talent and the drive to make whatever they want happen – hell yeah!

From the US Sin City of Las Vegas, they come with a slow churning vortex of melancholy heaviness and depressive words and pounding slow drum dirges that seem to hold so much melody.  Think of Candlemass, early Trouble with the aid of Zak Wylde’s guitar style wrapped around Solitude Aeternus with a poet’s heart beating through the marked immensity of sound that needs comparing to the first Album of Black Sabbath– you get the insanely good band that is broadening Doom Metal’s reach.

Eight songs live and breathe on this album… each having its own life of its own.  From the droning and swirl of Binding the Witch to the slowed down Candlemass-esque Incantation, the album surges and whisks you away in its slow motion riptide and into its bleak universe.  Heavy and chalked full of dark pleasure, this is one album that impresses as well as creates a full on emotional ride into the shadowed lands that we venture into rarely.

I had given Demon Lung’s self-released EP Pareidolia a 9 out of ten, not to mention it being one of my favourites to this day… The Hundredth Name rating to demonstrate the growth and talent this band has offered up in their first major Metal label release.  Candlelight Records have picked one of the finest bands to get behind and let them do what they do so good… all we have to do is buy it.  GO NOW!!

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 10
Atmosphere: 10
Originality: 10
Production: 10
Overall: 10

Rating: 10 out of 10