Dragonlord (Tales of the Noble Steel)

“Dragonlord (Tales Of The Noble Steel)” is the band second album and the most successful in term of sales.
All the songs of the album were written from July to December ’98, except for three tracks written during the demo tapes and included in the new album to give them the new line-up treatment by demand of the fans of the demo tapes.

The album has been recorded at New Sin Audio Design studio (same studio used by Eldritch, Labyrinth, White Skull). The studio has become a leading light for Italian heavy metal bands, thanks to the work of sound engineer Luigi Stefanini. The sound of the group is now a powerful mix of Epic and Power Heavy Metal, played with grandeur feeling and dramatic solemnity, a metal storm of duelling guitars, thundering tempo changes, soulful guitar solos and soaring vocals.
A few songs on “Champion Eternal” had some keyboards parts but with the joining of the fifth member, keyboards are used more and more to add majestic and epic atmospheres to the songs. The band spent the beginning of 1999 to pre-produce the songs and entered the studio in May.
Domine came out of the studio with 10 metal hymns of the purest dynasty. Songs like “Dragonlord (The Grand Master Of The Mightiest Beasts)”, “Last Of The Dragonlord (Lord Elric’s Imperial March)” and the 13 minutes long “The Battle For The Great Silver Sword” (A Suite in VII Parts) are the most epic tracks ever recorded by the band so far. Fans of more aggressive and faster songs are rewarded by the double bass drums assault of “Thunderstorm” and “Defenders”, two songs which are still live gigs favourite. Morby showcases his vocal range, from wicked Metal scorching vocal to opera tenor to amazing hyper-high screams ad can be heard at the end of the song “Defenders”, where he hits some very high notes.
The band records a cover of Queensryche’s classic “Queen Of The Reich”, a track that appears exclusively on the Japanese edition.

The album enters the Italian chart at number 98 as the only metal album along with Metallica and Dream Theater for the week.

Domine signs a deal with Metal Blade for the release of “Dragonlord” in USA.
“Dragonlord” is released in Brazil by Rock Brigade, leading label/distributor/magazine of the Brazilian scene and takes the right to re-release “Champion Eternal”. “Dragonlord” is also released in Japan by Soundholic.

“Dragonlord” gets enthusiastic reviews in all the most important magazines, it’s top metal album on most of the Italian magazines, gets the front cover of Power Zone, Metal Invader and Flash mags, and it’s in the top 10 of Rock Hard Germany, Heavy Oder Was and Mindview soundchecks and other magazines.

Soon after the recording of the album, drummer Mimmo decides to quit musical activities to dedicate his time to his family. New drummer is Stefano Bonini, previously with extreme act Necromass, with whom he recorded 2 albums and toured Europe with Dark Funeral.

After the release of the album, the band begins live activity, playing a sold out gig in Athens, Greece. Then they undertake a European tour opening for American bands Riot, Anvil and Agent Steel. The tour is called “Metallic Movement 2000” and travelled across Holland, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland, France and Spain.

The band is then part of the bill of the Gods Of Metal Festival 2000, in Monza, the metal event of year 2000 in Italy. The bill of the day is Iron Maiden, Demons and Wizards, Dark Tranquillity, Sentenced, Edguy, Domine, Dirty Deeds, Khali and Theater Of Vampires. The band plays in front of 23.000 people. The gig is broadcasted on tv by Video Music channel.

Domine plays at the Powermad 2000 Festival with Running Wild, Grave Digger and Moon Of Steel; The festival is held inside an ancient castle in Vigevano and in other festivals like Agglutination in Chiaromonte with Vision Divine and Metal Gladiators 2000 Festival in Bologna with Gamma Ray, Freedom Call and Labyrinth.