"INDUSTRIAL TECHNO LACED WITH SPEED METAL RIFF-LOOPS AND STABBING CYBER-PUNK SYNTH LINES: PURE HELL FROM EUROPE"
"BLOOD TO BLOOD: Chaotic, Evil, pounding Satanic, Techno at it’s finest!! What a MASTERPIECE!!!! We’ll be blasting it at our Summer Solstice gathering!! Hail DerDRAKOS!" – The Sentinel magazine, Australia
"So far, I have to say one thing... Lust For Chaos was good but this one might just have historians talking about you guys for fucking aeons!!! Nice work with the dark imagery too." - DJ Lord Genocyde, DarksideRadio.com - USA
"Your cd is a killer and I will support any way I can. It's got rhythm / it's got beat, it's got attitude, and very good presentation." - DJ George P., Front of House Promotion, Side Effect Radio Show, Kiss FM Athens, Frontofhouse.gr - Hellas
"DerDRAKOS HELL-CD: You Have to Have It! Just got my DerDRAKOS CD in today and it is blasting from my stereo as we speak! This will kick your ass! Definitely the soundtrack for all types of Orgasmic Debauchery!" - DJ Zeph, www.DarksideRadio.com - Redrum Entertainment, USA
"DerDRAKOS invoked a great demonic gem with the new release of BLOOD TO BLOOD! A truly dark, electronic pleasure! This is the kind of music I'd like to Murder, Kill and Fuck too! I give this cd a great big HAIL FUCKING SATAN!" - V. Crowley - ACHERON, USA
"Excellent work, a real satanic megablast!" - Serpentia, Dark Angel Promotions Hellas
"Father/Son duo mixing industrial and electro with techno, terror and metal. Complete insanity, accompanied by Satanic lyrics and evil vocal passages! Brand new release comes in cool digipack with killer artwork!"
SevenTimesMoreScary.com - MetalPlaza.nl, Holland
NEW 13-TRACKS CD OUT NOW
MP3's (if your computer doesn't read them go to: DerDRAKOS II)
"ELECTRONIC STRENGTH THRU JOY, MUSIC FOR A HEALTHY AND FEROCIOUS YOUTH"
"BLAST IN YOUR CARS, CLUBS, HOMES, RAVES, INDIVIDUAL AND NATIONAL WARS"
"The new album from DerDRAKOS is available for your listening enjoyment. Go and check it out you won't be sorry, the only way you will be sorry is if you DON'T go and listen. The production on this album is WONDERFUL and the lyrics and vocals are outstanding: DerDRAKOS definitely got something superior with this one!!" - ~Whisper~, PhoenixRisingEzine.com - USA
"… THIS ISSUE FEATURES EASTERN EUROPEAN SATANIC TECHNO TERRORISTS DERDRAKOS…" – ChurchOfSatan.com, official News
"I have the "BLOOD TO BLOOD" CD! It looks great and sounds awesome!! I am enjoying the stuff and will play a couple tracks and feature you on Cyberage Radio TONIGHT!!" - Tommy T., DSBP Records, Cyberage Radio, Cyberage.cx - USA
"This record can break the clubs walls, the rhythmic sounds wrap you up in menacing atmospheres and the layout is perfect" - MarcoD., Wertham, Italy/UK
"Listening to BLOOD TO BLOOD in my car is really fucking DANGEROUS! THAT IS SICK HOOLIGAN MUSICK. AWESOME!" - Trips und Träume distribution, Italy
"Das neue Album von DerDRAKOS "BLOOD TO BLOOD" macht da weiter wo das erste aufgehört hat. Industrial in richtung technoider Sounds, verpackt mit genialen Voices und ordentlich Tempo. Geht gut ab..." - "The new album from DerDRAKOS "BLOOD TO BLOOD" starts exactly where the last one ended. Industrial combined with techno-like sound, wrapped with genius voices and good speed. Just great..." - DJane YourAgony, Radio Schwarze Welle, Germany
"DerDRAKOS kicking off this week's edition of Velvet Darkness here on Radio Free Satan with "Burn Forever", from the new album "BLOOD TO BLOOD": if you don't have it now, get your asses up there and get it 'cause THIS ALBUM KICKS ASS! Kicks everybody's ass 'cause is just that damn good!!" "BLOOD TO
BLOOD" on RADIO FREE SATAN by DJ LORD DRACUL, 11-08-08
"I must say this is quite a good album. Real hard, fast electronics, pulsating
rhythms enough to get that Devil inside moving... Thirteen tracks of pure electronic
Satanic fury: you should all get out and get that CD right now!!" "BLOOD TO
BLOOD" on RADIO FREE SATAN by DJ LORD DRACUL, 07-07-08
Spirit to spirit, Blood to Blood... "Gelido e infuocato. Poetico e brutale. Futuristico e primordiale. Minimale e
complesso. Spirituale e materialista. Superiore, estremo, diretto. Spontaneo e
ragionato. Apollineo e Dionisiaco, come il teatro che Nietzsche ha descritto in
preda alla sua ispirazione, mi verrebbe da dire dopo aver letto le pagine del sito, dal quale apprendo che anche gli altri caratteri del Drago sono espressi
artisticamente tramite più mezzi, dalla musica all'immagine fino alla parola.
Ho sempre avuto un rispetto reverenziale verso alcune avanguardie particolarmente audaci. Credo che questa famiglia formata da padre e figlio (con il piccolo Lukas, figlio di Alex e nipote di Steve Drakos a completare un vero e proprio Clan) stia creando una specie di avanguardia... Mi sono avvicinato a loro per via della forte componente techno-trance. Avevo ormai perso le speranze di ascoltare di nuovo quel genere. Mi ero quasi "rassegnato", quando durante l'ascolto di una webradio non incappo nell'opener "Burn Forever". Da appassionato di quel genere, sono rimasto
folgorato. Mi pare di capire che il loro background musicale sia stato influenzato tanto dall'ideologia punk anni 80 quanto dalla techno anni 90, che in alcuni casi era diventata verosimilmente il "rifugio" di tale attitudine...ma non è tutto. Ci trovo anche una intrigante componente sensuale, lietamente blasfema e dai probabili (secondo me) risvolti simbolisti, almeno a livello concettuale (oltre che iconico-visivo). Trovo l'orgoglio europeo, trovo una letale determinazione ad agire, trovo l'esaltazione della potenza esplosiva, legati dal filo rosso del potente sentimento dei legami di sangue. E che dire della voce femminile....ipnotica come una sirena viziosa, maestosa come un oracolo e crudele come una gorgone..il tutto ad opera di Susi Medusa Gottardi, partner artistica e principale musa dei DerDRAKOS in un'altra forma d'arte, ovvero catturare l'estetica visiva di un oscuro erotismo mistico, di architetture assolute e di forme poetiche evocative, e racchiuderlo in film e foto...
Il loro messaggio è ben chiaro ma difficile, elitario ma non esclusivo come quello di un certo black metal moderno, anzi direi che le parti declamate più che cantate ricordano la spettrale voce di Cronos dei primi Venom, il primo gruppo a inserire tematiche estreme e politically un-corrects tanto nei loro testi quanto nell'immaginario, incattivendo un genere potente come l'heavy metal, tuttavia non arrivando mai a bruciarsi in maniera definitiva con la fiamma nera come invece ha fatto qualcun altro..
In effetti, comparare questo disco con la Techno-Trance italotedesca dei primi anni 90 mi sembra paragonare "Black Metal" a "The Number of The Beast". Un'altra dimensione, semplicemente.
Concludendo, Blood To Blood è distillato di DerDRAKOS, un'entità multiforme della quale la componente musicale è racchiusa egregiamente nel loro CD, tra l'altro autoprodotto e molto ben confezionato. La loro formula si può grezzamente sintetizzare come musica Techno-Trance (di alto livello, per giunta) unita a un attitudine Black Metal e a un adrenalinico oltranzismo Punk, con vocals declamatorie e persuasive, una formula grazie alla quale bastano davvero pochi secondi di ascolto per capire subito la proposta di una delle realtà più estreme e originali nell'ambito della musica elettronica indipendente." -Cyber Wildness, www.RawAndWild.com
Album of the Month
- DerDRAKOS, Blood To Blood. "After a
long anticipated 2 year wait, DerDrakos is back again with Blood To Blood. Deciding not to
hear the samples put up on their official myspace, I decided to wait for the album to
arrive, so not to torment me any more than I was already; I'm glad I waited - Blood To
Blood excells beyond imagination. - First the technicals: where their last album, Lust For Chaos was harsh, choppy and erradic
in sound, Blood To Blood is a smoother production, making a smooth transition track to
track. The vocals are stronger and more defined than their previous release; and you can
hear the development and growth of them mastering their craft. Their visual concepts
remain the same with the amazing and talented Suzi Medusa back at the helm and in charge
of the graphics and design layout. - Musically, Blood To Blood is their best work to date. This father and son duo are definate
masters at what they do, and they do it damn well. There isn't enough compositions like
this out there, with the last in my mind being Atari Teenage Riot, in the way both bands
weave a harsh, techno/industrial atmosphere with an otherworldly/ravish/underground
atmosphere. Tracks to support this theory are "European Hard Line", "La
Vipera", and "Deep In Violence". This time around, Suzi's vocals provide
her usual husky erotic blend of growling and screaming, but is more defined and clear. - Favorite tracks off this album are "European Hard Line" with the stand out
opening line of "We are Europeans, we don't need to be good. We are devils."
"Welcome To Hell" is amazing as well with an enticing tone of voice in the
opening line. - By far, this is one of my favorite bands to date, and if you're one of the lucky few to be
in their good graces as this ezine is, then you have a better understanding of who they
are as a whole. I would love to see a live show if there ever was one." Score: 10. Written By: Mynx. PhoenixRisingEzine.com, USA
Artist: DerDRAKOS. Album: Blood To Blood. "One of the more obscure projects that came to my attention for my works on the Industrialized Metal Webzine is the Czech father/son duo DerDrakos. This project exists out of Steve Drakos and his son Alex, with additional female vocals by Susi Medusa. Their debut album 'Lust for Chaos' had an excellent review two years ago. It was filled with all kinds of evil dark techno and industrial works, presented with evil lyrics and extravagant vocal combinations. After this release I kept a closer eye on this project, and I surely was glad to hear about the new 'Blood To Blood' CD. This CD, released in 2008 on the DIY way, contains 13 brand new tracks and one hour and 15 minutes of music, ready to be discovered.
The release opens with 'Burn Forever'. It's an uptempo, danceable track that features influences of electro and dance. The diabolical female vocals fit the song perfectly, as well the slightly added guitars. 'Young Obsessions' opens with metal guitars and brutally bouncing beats. What follows is a dark atmospheric track, with bashing beats and dark electronic synthlines. The interaction inbetween the preachy male vocals and soft and evil female vocals is an essential part on the track. 'Stronger Than Remorse' includes fast techno beats mixed with slightly electronic samples and wellfitting vocal lines. The female vocal parts are sung in Czech, which give the song an extra mysterious dimension. Overall this is a perfect track to dance on. 'European Hard Line' comes up next. It's a pretty electronic based track, with dark synthlines and a gentle though strong beat. The song hides some little ambient influences too. 'Welcome To Hell' has a more dark atmosphere, constructed by wicked electronic musical works and evil vocal lines. 'La Vipera' is a song all in Italian. The diabolical vocals of Susi Medvsa fits the spastic and wicked electronic sampling surprisingly well, which turns it into one of the most experimental though mature tracks. Overall the song is one of the most dark ones on the release. 'She-Wolves Are Rising' is again a track that invites you to dance, with dark electronic works mixed with trance and techno influences. 'Far Beyond Damnation' continues walking that path, although this song is more uptempo and includes slightly ambient touches on the more quiet parts. 'The Devil's Guard' is the most industrial metal track, switching from downtempo to midtempo programming accompanied by distorted riffing and preachy male vocals. 'I Will Have Your Eyes' sounds surprisingly different. It has a wicked beat and some gentle dark electronic sounds, but most of all the song contains orchestral keyboard works and dark, maybe even a little sensitive vocal lines. This track would probably affect a wider audience compared with the others, and it's basically one of my own favourites too. 'Deep In Violence' is a gentle industrial metal track, which features bouncing programming and strong guitarwork. The diabolical female vocals are spread excellently all over the track, and are in great harmony. 'Power of Imagination' features again some quality dark electronic works, mixed with old school house elements and modern techno. The release ends with 'No One Is Like Me'. Its a fast and dark track, mostly electronic based, but as well blessed with influences from out of the cyber corner.
Lyrically, DerDrakos offers you stuff you don't hear very often - not even in Satanic black metal bands. A few extracts: "We are Europeans, we don't need to be good. We are devils since millions of generations" - European Hard Line. "My own demon daughter, nine years old. You're calling me to free you from your flesh. Child in coma, I hear you. Do you really want to die and take my heart" - Far Beyond Damnation. No matter if you agree with them or not, you can't deny that they manage to etalage their views clearly - and the most important of all: it fits the dark and evil type of music they make very well.
When you compare this new release with the 'Lust For Chaos' debut album, you find some major improvements. First of all, in my opinion the artwork looks much cooler. Second, this new release is blessed with a much better production, which allows you to hear many more details that are hidden in the sampling and electronic works. As well, this new album has much more experiments within different genres, which turns out to be a blessing for the variation. Beeing able to experiment this much without sounding like they overdid it is a sign of their growth in maturity when it comes to song structure.
This release managed to fulfil my high expectations without any problems, which result in an improvement of an already nearly perfect score. 'Blood To Blood' is, just like 'Lust For Chaos', not recommendable for the weaker and the religious souls. For all the others, make sure you'll get a copy of this release in your hands if you're looking for something extravagant and unique. There are no excuses for missing it!
Vote: 99 / 100 - IndustrializedMetal.com, Holland
