Serpent's Embrace

Reviewing past works from Agathodaimon had me wanting more. "Higher Art of Rebellion" felt like the guitars, bass and drums all took a back seat to the keyboard and vocal work. On "Serpent's Embrace", the sound is completely balanced and I feel the album is produced well. "Serpent's Embrace" is also far more accessible. The songs are all in English this time around which made following the lyrics much easier. All in all, it seems that Agathodaimon really evolved as a band in the two albums since "Higher Art of Rebellion".

Since the lyrics are in English this time, it was much easier to follow. As much as I enjoy this style of black metal, I would say the lyrics are a bit on the cliche end. I have heard all of this before many times. However, in 2004, speaking about love and death was pretty popular across many metal subgenres. I feel like lyrically this album is victim to the times. It's not terrible by any means, in fact it has many beautiful sounding songs. "Solitude", with guest vocalist Ruth Knepel is down right gorgeous. She has an amazing voice and the song is completely hers to sing in.

The song structure is fantastic. The first eight songs are very creative with many memorable riffs. "Light Reborn" and "Faded Years" are my two personal favorites. "Light Reborn" has some great clean vocals. Clean vocals in symphonic black metal isn't a rare thing, but it feels refreshing here. Martin Wickler who performs those vocals, along with being the guitarist, does an overall phenomenal job. In my opinion, he is a staple in Agathodaimon's sound and the reason why I like this album so much. This is also the last album with Frank Nordmann on main vocals. It's a shame because I really enjoy his performance here. I'm not too familiar with Agathodaimon outside of Frank's vocals, so he is the definite voice of the band in my eyes. Everything seems balanced here unlike the last album I talked about. There are even a couple guitar solos which is much appreciated. With all instruments getting their proper time, I feel that the keyboards are once again a stand out part. "Serpent's Embrace" feels more electronic than symphonic. I'm not complaining as I love the sound, but it's just something I noticed.

The only negative I would give this is probably the same I would say for "Higher Art of Rebellion". "Serpent's Embrace" is shorter than that album by ten minutes, but I do feel that a couple songs could have gotten cut. The problem with that last album is that the second half really dragged by. The second half is strong in "Serpent's Embrace", but "The Darkness Inside" doesn't do the album any favors. It's a very paint by numbers track which hurt the rating for this review. Also, the last two songs, "Bitter End" and "Feelings" don't offer much than what the album has already given. None of these songs are completely terrible, but I have heard them before.

Overall, I really like this album. I think it's much better than "Higher Art of Rebellion" in terms of production, guitar work and keyboard placement. Martin Wickler is the absolute standout here with his great gothic clean vocals. If you like those mid-aughts symphonic, romantic, and gothic bands then check out "Serpent's Embrace".

Recommendations: "Serpent's Embrace", "Light Reborn", "Faded Years", and "Solitude"

For calling one of the more pigeonholed genres their collective region of lurid residency, Germany's own Agathodaimon were hardly eliciting anything even approaching gastrointestinal butterflies during the period within which the record dropped. With the abstruse and megalomaniacal Death Cult Armageddon still sonically ringing true in the air and throttling general perceptions toward the negative, more polished symphonic black metal acts like Agathodaimon immediately found a more discursive climate already departing for the newly budding trends of the period. The writing was clearly on the wall as early as Higher Art of Rebellion, but on the brilliant Chapter III the band realized that unfurled against the more trite competition that was to be invariably and instinctively drawn against them, they excelled when emphasizing their gothic periphery.

Disregarding the tremendous miscalculation that was the accompanying music video, Serpent's Embrace is for all intents and purposes the spiritual and corporeal followup to Chapter III. Some of the more perceptible shifts in disposition revolve around a slower, serrated riff armament that adopts more habitual gothic elements including laced-in-fizzing-camphor black/doom dirges along with the occasional, more standard rock motif reaching back to shadows past and in turn serving as a nod to the band's more eclectic origins. Along with these more reigned-in qualities comes a paradigm shift in riff delivery, largely coming thick and fast courtesy of meaty powerchords that swing both wide and deep as opposed to the more animated melodic black template present on Chapter III and the like, which often served as counter-battery alongside Walzer's atmospheric soundscapes. We get inklings of the same concept here, albeit it in a decidedly paraphrased constitution.

The band never quite recovered from the departure of Vlad Dracul on a penmanship level, but Nordmann holds these musty catacombs down fairly well on his own. Wickler is also underutilized here, which seriously undermines the eclectic temperament that made earlier outings like Higher Art of Rebellion fantastic and multifaceted experiences that have always stuck with me much longer. The keyboards are used tastefully here, and in the end Serpent's Emprace can be seen as a slightly less memorable and less morbidly heavy twin to Chapter III. The B-side of the record is one that will bifurcate many a fan, as some of the less established deviations from the norm are packed near the end. "The Darkness Inside" is a melodic romp that reminds me quite a bit of Dissection's controversial Reinkaos concerning luscious twin-leadwork nailed onto a surging melodic black template. Wickler's smooth cleans tie the entire song together, and in the end we get one of Agathodaimon's more classic tunes.

This grinds uneventfully with the unmemorable, maudlin closer "Feelings," and some of the faster numbers are rather stock and are tracks best skipped on the whole. Granted with a wider viewpoint afforded by the ten years since Serpent's Embrace originally dropped, this ends up being a pretty standard outing by these guys consistent caliber, but will still satiate most fans of this style despite the aforementioned shortcomings. Nonetheless, this is a disappointment coming off of Agathodaimon's two best albums, and should be experienced only after one tackles Higher Art of Rebellion and Chapter III. All-inclusively speaking, I can find a use for most of these tracks, and come back to this material occasionally, rarely finding myself disappointed in isolation. Solid stuff.

This is just another well produced goth/black album. It's riddled with all kind of Cradle Of Filth effects and the songs are written like a Cradle Of Filth album. I suppose the thing that separates this album from Cradle Of Filth is that it also kind of sounds like Dimmu Borgir. Needless to say, it's not very original.

Well, this album is certainly well produced. The guitars hit hard, the double kick hits hard, and the vocals (through the use of various effects I'm sure) sound like vicious and angry snarls. The truth of the matter however, is that there's generally no creativity within the riffs or the song structure. The only thing that makes this album an enjoyable listen (or a bearable listen really) is the atmosphere. The vocals are nice, the effects and drums give it a hard hitting sound that's good to listen to loudly as background music, but when you sit down and analyze it there's nothing special here. The songs are built so that the guitars play chords while the keyboards play the leads, not the other way around. That's not very metal of them.

Having said that, there's like four good riffs on this CD. One of them begins Light Reborn, which is probably the only song besides The Darkness Inside worth mentioning. The introduction is pretty promising, the first verse is a little less promising, and then we're hit hard by keyboards and Dimmu Borgir like clean vocals. The song just loses momentum quickly after the first riff. They try to experiment with the whole Between The Buried And Me / Outworld style mood changes but it ends up just killing the song instead of ending the repetition and really working. You guys want to learn how to change the mood successfully? Listen to WarCry by Outworld.

The Darkness Inside is a fairly decent song actually. Nice little guitar harmony introduction, plenty of Amon Amarth worship, and a nice growled chorus featuring epic guitar work and equally complimentary drumming. It settles down during the verses and uses the computer / keyboard effects a little too much to fill the void, but then it goes back to the epic chorus. As usual though, instead of ending the song where they should, they add a little bridge and then repeat what they've already overdone to make it longer.

Overall, this album's probably worth avoiding. There's only two songs really truly worth mentioning here. The production's great, and the effects (if they would use them tastefully) would be great too. There's not many riffs or original ideas on this album though, and it just drags on and on way too much.

I'll begin with a very simple remark: take out Solitude and this is an excellent album. Probably, to many metal-heads out there, this melody dragged the album to a very low mark. However, I'm not your everyday metal-head. I'm an open minded metal-head so to speak :). Thus, I will judge the album my way, as all of you do.

Agathodaimon were always a pretty good black metal band. Lately (specially starting from Chapter III) they added some female vocals to the sound (I really don't like the "Sacred Divinity" melody from that album). This is not the case with "Solitude". This is 80% not metal. But it's a good song nevertheless. Of course, depends to how much tolerant you can be. I can be quite a lot, and if it sounds good, I don't care if it's symphonic, black or heavy. If it sounds good and it's not silly, then it's ok. And as far as the lyrics are concerned, "Solitude" is ok and is far from the silly-barrier. Also, the song generates quite an important effect, bringing a breeze of silence in the violence of the album just before heading both-feet in "Limbs Of A Stare" which is one of the most brutal offerings on the release. The contrast between the two is striking to say the least and the combination is well thought.

The vocals of Akaias are within the norm of Black Metal and they're perfect for the job at hand. As for the instrumental and creative side, Serpent's Embrace is the best piece of record these fellows ever made. Original, diverse, symphonic and aggressive. Nevermind "Solitude", even with that, it's a good record, different from the rest and this is what makes a band challanging and entertaining. Agathodaimon evolved, bringing new elements into their sound and this is something to be encouraged everywhere we see it.

I was a bit hesitant to listen to this album, given the lineup changes prior to this release. A guitarist or bassist change doesn't usually affect a band's sound too much, but a vocalist and a keyboardist? Those two often cause drastic change for the worse, and I fully expected something awful upon receipt of this album. I was pleasantly surprised.

Much like their previous effort 'Chapter III', this is atmospheric "black metal" with occasional moments of speed and aggression. However, that's where the comparisons end. Elements of a number of different styles have crept their way into Agathodaimon's repertoire, and keep this from sounding remotely like a rehash of 'Chapter III'.

First off, the vocals. The harsh screams and rasps sound almost exactly the same, though the clean ones sound very different. The closest comparison that I can come up with offhand are Sully from Godsmack, though it fits the music extremely well. On a couple tracks some unnamed woman steps up to do lead vocals, a welcome change, and she sounds damn good doing it.

The guitars are very well done. Mostly simplistic, though catchy, riffing with some acoustic moments. However, on this album, they decided to mix it up with a thrash riff here, a soaring lead there and even moments where the guitar altogether stops. During the infrequent leads the bassist steps to the foreground to fill the space left by the guitars and does so quite well... something that entire genres of bands seem incapable of doing.

The keyboards are extremely well done, very eloquent and darkly atmospheric. Whether doing piano, synth strings or just white noise, it never seems out of place, despite the band's frequent stylistic changes. The drums get special note as they are, in a couple tracks, really the only instrument going besides the vocals. The interplay between the drums, the white noise of the keyboards and the vocals brings to mind bands like Portishead, quite a jump from the black metal they were playing only moments.

Overall this album is astonishingly good, both very catchy and emotive. I was quite relieved that this band managed to retain their old sound while still adding a number of new elements. There are no moments of monotony to be found on this album, the music is constantly changing, though never sounding forced, with not one weak track to be found. This band's ability to flawlessly go from black metal to atmospheric doom to borderline trip hop, while still maintaining flow and mood despite stylistic change, is something very few are capable of and is extremely impressive.

This has surpassed my hopes and expectations on every possible level. One of the best written albums I've heard in a long time.
Good job Agathodaimon.