Power metal is becoming a very bloated and dull genre, where bands like Cellador, Dungeon, Wizard, Galloglas, Human Fortress and countless more seem to only play the same stuff over and over again. Dragonland only adds to the pile of junk. Most of these bands try to take work done by older bands like Helloween and Blind Guardian and attempt to elaborate or to modernize all the elements that made those bands great, but the truth is they’re all very far from achieving it.

And now Dragonland brings us their latest effort “Astronomy”, I never really cared for the band’s last album “Starfall”, so I tried to keep as much of an open mind as I could for this album, but in the end the band failed to prove me wrong. “Astronomy” is just full of all the same elements that most other power metal bands use in their music. The opening track “Supernova” is a promising start, as it has a very meaty guitar sound and Jonas Heidgert has the pipes to pull off the job as a melodic singer. After listening to the first track things turn in the wrong direction with “Cassiopeia”, which is probably one of the most boring songs in the album, the female vocals on the song are quite annoying and the guitars seem to be lost without a solid riff. “Contact” moves the record back to normal; the song is fast, heavy, great vocals and it has a great epic feeling to it, topped off with good keyboard work. After track three the album becomes severely mind numbing, the title track has a riff taken right out of the Kai Hansen book of riffs. “Antimatter” should’ve been called “Take This Life”, I hope somebody pays some royalties to In Flames, the riff sounds as if Jesper Stromblad was playing. “The Book of Shadows Part IV: The Scrolls of Geometria Divina” is a pointless instrumental that adds absolutely nothing to album and feels more like the soundtrack of a cheesy fantasy movie. “Beethoven’s Nightmare” tries to incorporate some virtuoso playing but fails to impress. The album continues down the same path with the “Old House on the Hill” trilogy, which is a mix of orchestral parts and metal with no vocals. Now aside from the fact that this has been done before and better by other bands like Trans-Siberian Orchestra (which plays mostly Christmas songs) make Dragonland look silly and laughable at times. The entire suite sounds like the soundtrack that was rejected for the Harry Potter movies.

Power metal has always had a classic vibe to it and it’s always been pretty much over the top. When you find bands that execute this to perfection like Helloween, Stratovarius or Blind Guardian the experience is more than enjoyable, it feels like metal, but bands like Dragonland only try to make this genre the laughing stock of metal music.