Artist: Dracula
Country: Australia
Label: Creep Purple
Formats: LP (Unofficial)
Year: 2025
As if there isn’t enough controversy involved with a release that has a member of Black Magick SS in their ranks, this compilation LP, covering the entire discography of Australia’s Dracula, is considered a bootleg by two of the three band members. The other one, James Hawley (or Count Hawlok), the one in Black Magick SS, purposefully betrayed his band mates for the sole sake of money to clean up his personal mess. So he sold the band’s soul for money to the Luthuanian based Creep Purple label. The label that’s also involved in all of the Black Magick SS-releases, excluding the bootlegs that Darker Than Black keeps in press for its own monetary gain. With remorse Count Hawlok pleaded guilty and admitted that he shouldn’t have pursued the release of this compilation LP. In the end, what we have here is an LP that nobody is happy with.
- Two members categorically claiming this is a bootleg because they explicitly prohibited Creep Purple from using their music, lyrics, logo and image;
- The other musician involved tore up his band beyond the state of repair;
- The label because they claim it is an legitimate release, while it clearly is not.
So, the moral story of all this is: don’t do drugs and don’t mess up your life, kids.
Since two band members no longer wish to be associated with Count Hawlok, this record lives up to its title. Musically, however, ‘In Memoriam’ is a welcome testament of an underrated band. The LP contains the only two releases Dracula ever put forth, the ‘Open Graves At Midnight’ EP (or demo, if you prefer) from 2013 and the ‘Black Winds Over Transylvania’ 7” single from 2014. Both are very hard or even almost impossible to get, at least if you don’t want to dig deep into your pockets. So, in that regard, ‘In Memoriam’ serves a just purpose, but on a musical level this band certainly had something to offer.
In the wake of the surge of Mercyful Fate-fuelled Occult Heavy Metal from the late 00’s and early 10’s we were treated to bands like In Solitude, Portrait, Attic and the rock stars of Ghost, as well a host of Occult Doom Rock bands inspired by the success of The Devil’s Blood and Jex Thoth. Dracula is firmly rooted in the first category: authentic and stunning instrumental part and with a charming off-key King Diamond impersonation. That is a strong warning, you have to be able to handle some high pitched vocals, very reminiscent of what King Diamond and Attic’s Meister Cagliostro are doing, but, honestly, not quite as good. People who are used to listening to Black Magick SS’ most recent works will recognize Hawlok’s vocals and probably don’t mind him sounding way out of tune most of the time. Indeed, big part of the charm.
On the A-side are the four tracks of ‘Open Graves At Midnight’. Honestly, I always have a hard time choosing which of the two Dracula releases I like best. If I am at those days that I pick this first recording, it is largely for the productional values of the cassette tape. I totally love the authenticity of the recording, totally raw and with a certain dose of natural echo it really sounds as if it was captured on tape in the 1970’s. The light guitar tone and the formidable tom sound, it’s just really exceptional. As a whole Count Hawlok sounds pretty composed as well, making these four tracks a criminally overlooked pinnacle of “modern” doomy and occult Heavy Metal.
The B-side is for the 2-track single. This is one is slightly heavier in sound, with a production that has a bit more eye details in the low-end sections of the music. It also much guitar-heavy and riff-oriented. Definitely more powerful and overall “Heavy Metal” than the demo tape, which still had much of a 1970’s Hardrock connotation to it. People who have a knack for NWOBHM will probably dig this as much as they did many of the aforementioned bands. But, it is also very clear that this might as well just be labelled as proto-Black Metal just as Mercyful Fate was one of the founding fathers of the genre as well.
With only six tracks, the selection is somewhat limited in terms of quantity, but the focus here is clearly on quality. If you have been searching for the original cassette tape and 7″ single for years, this is your opportunity. Although two of the three band members would prefer that you not purchase it and the third has since distanced himself from it, I cannot blame you if you decide to do so.
