DRACONIAN - Under A Godless Veil 2-LP (Black Vinyl)

A definite boon for those nostalgic for the days when women’s faces were as pale as the moon and the music was as haunting as a choir of disembodied spirits wailing amongst the cemetery, Under A Godless Veil is something of an acquired taste, but not a terribly difficult one to attain. I definitely found myself checking the calendar a few times to see if it was still 1997, which would be something of a depressing eventuality given that I was still in high school and thus even more predisposed to this mode of metallic expression. All the same, this is an album that knows its audience and makes every stride to rope them in and keep them engaged from beginning to end. It’s perhaps a slight cut below such seminal classics as Arcane Rain Fell and The Burning Halo, but it’s definitely well worthy of this band’s impressive legacy and a continual reminder of a time when female-fronted metal wasn’t drenched in symphonic bombast. It’s a spider’s web of woeful longing and despair, but the weaver is enchanting enough to making throngs of willing prisoners.