Artist: The Chamberlain
Country: Finland
Label: Out of the Dungeon
Formats: CD
Year: 2025
‘Dominus Noctis’ was a pretty decent first release for Finnish Black Metal outfit The Chamberlain, taking their experience in other bands into a symphonic Black Metal mould. It was enough to convince underground label Out of the Dungeon to release the band’s debut album, which appeared earlier 2025 in the shape of ‘Draconian Magick’.
The first EP was very heavily influenced by symphonic Black Metal from Norway, yet had a Finnish touch to it as well. On the full-length that approach has remained largely intact. Essentially, The Chamberlain mixes the sound of ‘Enthrone Darkness Triumphant’ era Dimmu Borgir and maybe some Gehenna, with a more Finnish flair that we heard from the likes of Catamenia and Children of Bodom. The main difference with those bands is that The Chamberlain is a lot more subtle and restrained with their melodies from both the guitars and the synthesizers. Opting to choose for the overall band sound as opposed to the individual melodies and leads, the guitars and synthesizers dictate the atmosphere, and the drum and snarling vocals control the rhythm. In essence this is the same as we heard on ‘Dominus Noctis’, but there are some slight differences . The most noticeable of those is that the influences of Heavy Metal that we heard on the EP seem much reduced, making this a much stricter Black Metal affair.
The main issue that arises is that this uniform sound lives and breathes of memorable riffs and passages. Unfortunately, ‘Draconian Magick’ lacks a bit in sophistication and excitement. There’s not enough to dig your teeth in, so although not unpleasant, it feels very middle of the road. It takes until the last three tracks for the album to really catch foot. Songs like ’On the Path of Reckoning’, with more dynamics, leads and a nice falsetto or ‘Rise of the Chamberlain’ with hooky riffs feel like an exception on the record. Likewise, the Gothenburg-style lead guitar of closing track ‘Enter the Pandemonium’ offers some much-desired contrast, and I wish the album had more of those elements. The rest of the album feels just a little bit too predictable, and as a whole ‘Draconian Magick’ is just entertaining symphonic Black Metal. Nothing more, nothing less. Especially in a symphonic Black Metal soundscape where acts like Moonlight Sorcery, Mooncitaddel, Stormkeep and Vargrav to name a few, have so much more to offer.
