Let Draka / The Flight of the Dragon

Drakar, a Czech Republic born metal outfit who emerged in the late 1980s, are best represented by their now two-decade-old debut album, Let Draka / The Flight of the Dragon, also called Dragon Music of Prague (their current base of operations): Mystic Metal.

Drakar uses a wide variety of experimental techniques seldom found in the heavy metal genre. The use of strange audio loops, jet fighter and motorcycle sounds, blatantly indefinable noises sound at first more psychedelic than anything. But once the thrashing / screeching guitar by Martin Ježek comes into play like an inbound missile, and the troll like, demonic Sprechstimme very non English style of talk singing of Ivan Sekyra takes over, there is no doubt that you are in for an obscure, mystic metal experience.

This particular album would be served best during either a duel with a legendary medieval beast, upon entering the bowels of hell or being possessed by a demon while asleep. It almost sounds like Metallica and The Misfits after going through some eastern European mad scientist's maniacal transformation.

The album has but one track in the English language, entitled “Crazy Boy,” which is a near six minute ongoing bruting yet fierce rhythm tic epic, with the twisted Sekyra repeatedly screaming the track's title with no other lyrics.

Drakar has a very unique sound, use of motor, commercial, and random yet familiar sounds blended and distorted until hypnotizing the listener, far out intros and a singer that is certainly dynamic and unlike anything I’ve ever heard. The band, while sometimes holstering a sound more characteristic of the '80s big hair, big motorcycles and wild times side of metal, also at times sounds more bruting and heavy while sometimes sounding most like a '90s speed metal group. Truly adept to all sides of the vast metal spectrum and a band worth checking out.