Customer Reviews

Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King Soundtrack

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I and my partner Blackfeather were pleased to be asked to DJ the US premier party of Dark Kingdom: The Dragon King. We are both interested in norse myth and history, medievalism, and underground music. So it wasn't even a question as to whether or not we would spin for the event.

The only question was, what were we going to play? We hadn't yet gotten a copy of the official soundtrack from Dancing Ferret. But to our amazement, most of the acts chosen for the project were exactly what we had in mind. Great minds, and all that...

Now that I've given the soundtrack a number of good listens I can say it serves two functions: gives a fantastic back drop for the classic tale of Nibelungen (the prototype for nearly all 'fantasy' stories that follow) and introduces American audiences to some of our favorite European medieval acts.

The expected hilights are there: the beautiful and dreamy Qntal, the rowdy Corvus Corax, the mystical and fae Faun. But you will also see Das Ich, E Nomine and several other electronic acts I would not have necessarily thought of, but feel fit perfectly with the sonic mood and Teutonic roots of Dark Kingdom.

I also was pleased to see favorites like Therion Estampie, Dreamside, Blackmore's Night, and Schandmaul make appearances.

If you enjoyed the movie or else just want a sampling of some of the best of medieval/electronic music out there, then take a listen to this sound track. It is a perfect record for any event which evokes the dark and ancient.

I bought this soundtrack a while ago based on the high reviews and tried to listen to it once all the way through. I was thoroughly unimpressed. There are exactly two orchestral score pieces on this soundtrack and 17 songs that are lyrical. They are ok at best and I have never picked up and listened to this soundtrack since then.

Last night, I finally watched the movie for the first time. It was decent if you have ancestry in the realms of the story, but it has many flaws. There are a lot of things that rock about this movie, mainly the Icelandic queen (and not just for her looks), and the score as I recall was great. So I gave the soundtrack another chance and again I was disappointed. The only two pieces of score were some of the more quiet ones and had none of the passion I heard while watching the movie. As for the other 17 lyrical songs, aside from the cool last track by Katie Knight Adamas, they were alien to me. Were these songs even in the movie? I watched the US dvd version which I hear has 50 mins cut out of it, so maybe these songs were in those 50 mins, or maybe they were in the worldwide non-US versions, but I honestly do not remember hearing any of these other songs. I cannot judge these songs on thier own merit as I am unfamiliar with the styles, but I was expecting to hear somgs and scores that I recognized FROM THE FILM.

So in summation,
1. THIS IS NOT THE SCORE, if you are looking for that then don't bother with this one.
2. If you watched the US version of the DVD you may not even recognize more than a few of the songs from the movie.
3. Listen to the clips above for each song and see if you like this kind of music before you buy this.
4. This is a review of the soundtrack and NOT the movie.

This is an amazing cd!! I felt like I was transported back in time to the era of the Norse gods!!!

There simply aren't any faults with this delightful piece of histofiction.
Fundamentally held together by the outstanding performance of Benno Fürmann, this epic work is by far the best thing to come from Europe's 'talent shed' for many decades.
As if this wasn't enough, the score deserves nothing short of an Oscar nomination. Featuring a full symphony orchestra, some of the biggest names in film music in the entire world were brought in as, in truth, the film entirely deserved it.
The resulting marriage between some of the finest acting ever captured on film and what can only be described as musical bliss makes this an unmissible entertainment jamboree.
Hurry out and get your copy, they're not going to be around forever!

I just watched the DVD of the film and out of ALL the DVDs that I own (500+) very few have a end credits song that keeps me from just hitting the stop button. This one did.

Sung by Katie Knight-Adams (a former performer in the Broadway play "Cats"), the song called "Riding on the Rocks" is a catchy pop rock song that starts off with a soft melodic vocal, but then kicks into high gear during the chorus with rock guitar backings that really give this tune some "ummph". What makes this song ear catching is Katies vocals. Very unique as she sings a select few words during the chorus.

I listen to it and this could easily be a song sung by recent American Idol runner-up Katherine McFee. Do yourself a favor and sample "Riding on the Rocks" above. You'll see what I mean.

From the sweet grapes of Vinland the Good to Vangarian Guard of the Byzantines. This tale has been told. It is my heritage.