I love how Finland does blackened thrash metal. As heard on Urn’s 666 Megatons, Evil Angel’s Unholy Fight for Metal, and Flame’s Into the Age of Fire, the Finns often play this style in a way that’s blunt and ruthless, with drums that pound like jackhammers and riffs that hit like a flamethrower to the balls. The similar approach of these bands isn’t surprising given how they’ve shared members over the years. Flame’s two core members, vocalist/guitarist “Blackvenom” and drummer “Pimeä (Nocturnal Blackspirit),” both played in Urn at separate times years ago, and Flame now count two Evil Angel members among their ranks (who also played in Urn). With time, however, Urn have cast aside those fukkers and moved away from their bludgeoning beginnings, with more recent albums featuring a sound that’s more melodic and (dare I say) nuanced. Apparently, Flame want to follow the same sonic trajectory. After hailing Satan and beating the fukk out of me with their aforementioned 2005 debut Into the Age of Fire and its 2011 follow-up March into Firelands, the band have decided to write more complex songs and “esoteric” lyrics for their long-awaited third album, Ignis Draconis Daemonicus. But is this a change for the better?
Yes and no. On one hand, Flame still have energy and know how to fukkin thrash. After what’s presumably a dragon roar, the opener, “Kaosphere,” kicks in with battering blast beats, addictive riffs, and commanding vocals that practically demand for heads to be banged. It’s everything you could want from Finnish blackened thrash, all in a tight sub-3-minute package. Later tracks like “Deification (The Serpent’s Promise)” and “Pure Damnation’s Ecstasy” similarly abuse your eardrums with hot, chord-bashing compositions that are embellished with echoing leads and mid-paced, triumphant progressions. Sometimes things feel a little too blunt, but that’s hardly a problem when you’re having such a good time.
Instead, the problem arises when Flame stretch their wings too far. Draconis’s biggest flaw is that the second and third track are some of the weakest and longest songs here, dampening the momentum built by “Kaosphere.” The second track, “Spellfire,” has a decent stomping main riff, but the song’s pace feels too slow this early in the record, and it leans on that main riff far more than it should for its nearly six-minute runtime. The third song, “Black Flames Divination,” gives us yet another stomping riff before combining faster moments, whispered vocals, clean picking, and swelling ambiance in a way that feels ambitious but never comes together in a way that justifies the song’s seven-minute length.
The album’s largely sagging first third is all the more frustrating given how much cool stuff there is elsewhere. The closing title track is a war anthem of the highest order and easily the best song here, evoking the glory of Viking-era Bathory with its epic marching pace, choral embellishments, and fist-raising hooks. At eight-and-a-half minutes long, the song is proof positive that the band are capable of writing longer tracks that work. Throughout Draconis, the band also make a conscious effort to add variety, with “Mystical Voice of My Demon Master” employing galloping rhythms, gleaming leads, and shuffling chords that don’t sound much like anything else here. “Rising Crimson Desert Storm” is also an interesting interlude, with thrumming ambiance and effects-heavy crooning that makes the track sound like a Native American ritual. On the proper songs, Blackvenom’s gruff, intelligible rasps add just the aggression that’s needed.
Nonetheless, I can’t help but have mixed feelings about Draconis. Even aside from the weak stretch early in the album, the record as a whole is held back by a harsh, trebly production that becomes a tad grating. Likewise, while I don’t mind the band trying to write longer and more complex material, they’re generally better when they keep things shorter and more bloodthirsty, and even some of the better songs here could have benefited from a more concise approach. With more refinement, Flame’s new style could work. For now, I’ll probably pull Draconis’s best songs out for my jogging playlists and leave the rest to smolder where they lie.
Rating: 2.5/5.0
DR: 8 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps
Label: Primitive Reaction
Websites: satansflame.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/satansflame
Releases Worldwide: September 25th, 2026
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