First and foremost, we need to note the big change this time out. Jorn has been replaced with Nils K Rue of Pagan's Mind fame. Nils is a fine singer in his own right, but I will admit to some disappointment in his inclusion here. Not only is Jorn a singular talent, but Nils simply doesn't have the menace to his voice to make me believe he is a blood-thirsty murderer leaving a heap of bodies on pikes outside his castle walls.
But we heard from "Worlds On Fire" and "I'll Die For You" that Holter didn't need Jorn around to come up with material that hit the right marks, with an infectious hookiness that knows playing things absolutely straight would be a huge mistake. Everyone involved knows that there is a spirit of fun to this project that maybe shouldn't be in a record telling the story of one of the most cruel men to ever walk the face of the earth, but it's precisely because of that the whole thing works as well as it does. Nothing about bloody death says there should be a guitar solo epic enough to recreate Slash's parts in the "November Rain" video, but we get a couple of them anyway, because why the hell not?
The biggest difference between the two records is that this one is more of a straight-forward metal record, whereas "Dracula" had more theatrical and narrative moments to make the experience unique. That is a double-edged sword. To me, that robs this of a few bits of inspiration I was looking forward to, but I know a lot of people thought the first record went too far down that rabbit hole, so this refocusing will make this a more palatable outing. Not everyone grew up with Meat Loaf as their first musical love, the way I did.
When Holter gets it right, he gets it totally right. Songs like "I'll Die For You" and "The Last Generation" are heavy metal with a theatrical flair to their massive hooks. The latter, sung by Eva Iselin Erichsen, feels entirely like a song that Dracula and Mina could have dueted on the last record. Her inclusion is one of the highlights of the album, as were her female predecessor's the last time 'round. Seriously, the Broadway prayer "Shadows Of Love" wouldn't be as effective with Nils behind the mic.
"Without You" is this record's take on "Hands Of Your God", while "Under Your Skin" is akin to "Queen Of The Damned", both records feature penultimate instrumentals, and there's even a direct sequel in "Save Me Part II". So yes, it does feel a little bit like Holter is trying very hard to replicate the formula that made the first record special. Lightning can't be captured in a bottle, however, so those little callbacks not only tie the albums together, but invite comparisons that don't need to be there. "Vlad The Impaler" is a terrific album in the style of "Dracula", good enough that it doesn't need to hit us over the head with the connection.
But minor gripes aside, Holter has taken vampire lore for another winning spin. No, it isn't as much a revelation as "Dracula" was, but it was never going to be. That album was a moment of inspiration that caught everyone off-guard, and it was the surprise factor that turned it from a great record into a defining one. This record had expectations coming in, and even though it nearly meets all of them, it was never going to knock me over, since I was already braced.
Let's not let that spoil a good thing. If you loved "Dracula", you'll feel the same way about "Vlad The Impaler". There's a lot of cheesy metal, a lot of conceptual metal, and a lot of dramatic metal. Holter wraps it all up in one package that is ruthlessly effective. Sort of like a certain historical figure......a
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