Arkeyn Steel Records have pulled another metaphorical rabbit out of the hat. Along with their recent re-issue of Phantom Reign’s No Hope for the Future (review here) they’ve now managed to materialise the excellent Dragondex in another limited edition CD run.
Dragondex formed in the mid-1980s somewhere in Oregon. With influences such as Rush and Pink Floyd amongst others they set off to make their mark.
The first stage of that was winning a “battle of the bands” competition and investing the prize money in studio time. That resulted in 100 copies of a demo tape.
Despite gigging hard nothing else would materialise bar that demo tape and Dragondex split. Now thanks to Arkeyn Steel this limited edition CD has the four tracks from the demo tape and seven songs from a live performance back in 1991.
It’s special stuff too. Very heavy, very progressive and at times very strange and quirky throwing in the unexpected. The Rush influences are obvious. Listening to it for the first time made me bring up images of Rush circa Farwell to Kings, Max Webster with a bit of Hawkwind and a bit of The Police. Weird huh – though it works so well.
Of the demo tape tracks – Fienberg’s Law is short, to the point, heavy and punchy. Excellent start. The Troll is simply marvellous. Expansive, inventive, progressive, spacey, heavy and weird. Has to be listened to in order appreciate how unique it is. Was I Lost comes in hard and fast before Reality Patio is sort of progressive reggae (preggae?).
Have a listen to The Troll:
The live tracks are superb. A little rough and ready though all come over well and show how different yet how skilled Dragondex were. The musicianship is excellent. Lifesonesque guitar (especially the soloing), Peartesque drumming (check out the solo on Our Journey) and the bass is right up there too high in the mix throbbing and slapping some complex lines. That’s shown well by the solo in Vikings.
Perhaps Dragondex were too “out there” to attract a recording contract – though they certainly had something different and it’s all so good to listen to.
All old Rush and Max Webster fans (myself included……) will enjoy Dragondex plenty. I’d say you will too if you like something heavy, progressive and a little out of the ordinary.
The CD is a limited run of 500. As usual with stuff like this I got mine from Sonic Age Records. As I post this up (26th April 2023) they have availability. Get on over there:
https://sonicagerecords.com
Or search for other outlets if Sonic Age sold out when you get there.
Quickly on Sonic Age Records – had email from them this morning that three “lost” New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands are due out in early on limited edition CD – Denigh, Falcon and Titan. I’ll get my hands on them with reviews in due course.