Embossed Dream in Four Acts

Odes of Ecstasy is a Greek band that sounds rather similar to other 90's gothic metal bands such as Tristania or Theatre of Tragedy. The guitar work is rather simplistic, keyboards provide a melancholic atmosphere, and vocal duties are split between an ingenue soprano and a gravel-throated harsh vocalist. This is Odes of Ecstasy's debut full-length release, and it has its ups and downs. It's not perfect, but at the same time, it's not atrocious.

Let's get the bad out of the way first. There wasn't that much variety in terms of composition. All of the "major" songs - that is, every song with "Act __" in the title - are in the same key, leaving less room for originality. Secondly, there is an overuse of coloratura vocal runs. In my opinion, these seem shoehorned in to fill up album space and remind us that yes, your female vocalist can do these demure-sounding vocal runs. Thirdly, the keyboard lacks quality and manages to sound somewhat cheesy on occasion. Finally, in "Faithless (Act 2)", there's... pitched growling. Now, done in the right circumstances, pitched growling can sound amazing. However, the melancholic and serious nature of the song is counteracted by the improperly-executed pitched growls that sound like a cartoon monster singing. It subtracts from my ability to take the song seriously, so that's why the pitched growling fails in this context.

However, this album does have some redeeming qualities. The mixing was done very well. Even though it's not high-definition sound, all of the instruments on the recording are audible, with nothing being overpowered by anything else. Even though I bashed on the female vocalist's overuse of coloratura runs, her range is the exact opposite of terrible. From the lower, more mezzo-soprano oriented notes on "Faithless" and "War Symphony (Act 3)" to the high E6 on "Garden of Temptation (Act 4)", she can hit them all very well without straining herself. Then, on "The Total Absence of Light (Act 1)" and "Garden of Temptation", we can hear this whispery male clean that contributes nicely to the melancholic atmosphere of the album. Hell, "Garden of Temptation" is a point for the "good" side all on its own, with its creative use of changing time signatures and guitar/piano solos, plus the two factors already discussed.

Finally, there's one aspect of this album that fits into neither the good side nor the bad side of this album: the final track, "Vampire Hunters (Epilogos)". It's a dark, atmospheric track that helps to end the album with a bang. However, it could have gone far beyond that. Instead of writing actual lyrics, the band used a bunch of spoken word sections over it. Also, the track is almost entirely keyboard and drums, which is a shame because I really think it would translate really well into guitar-driven metal. Basically, they should have used more guitars and written actual lyrics, perhaps with the spoken word interspersed, and then it would have gone from a good track to an amazing one.

Overall, Embossed Dream in Four Acts wasn't the best album I've ever heard. But the band showed potential and has plenty of room to develop. Maybe my opinion on them will change if I listen to some of their other material, but for now, they're just an average band: not amazing, but not horrible, either.

A gothic metal band from Greece? Somehow I can't imagine a doomy and gloomy band coming from sun-parched Greece. And indeed, Odes of Ecstasy come across relatively more pleasant than gloomsome.

It still fits the description of gothic metal though. The accent might not be on atmosphere and bombasm like with other (notably Dutch) gothic metal bands, but the line-up with keyboards, clean female vocals and gruff male vocals is there. They're not darker than thou in terms of music, but the lyrics still revolve around light and darkness, intense emotion and abstract concepts.

The main reason I like this album, are Christina Maniati's vocals. She has an extremely likeable voice; warm and powerful; clear as water, but with the timbre of a mountain-stream. And it has an added hard to describe quality that distinguishes her from 'average' female clean vocalists in metal. Like Kate Bush, but wholly different. Other than the brief chants, she sings mostly in short bursts. Possibly due to a limitation on the part of Christina, it does keep me hungering for more. Her voice ranges from mid to high range.

The male vocalist pales in comarison for the most part; a hoarse gruff grunt (sometimes spoken), and like the drums not bassy and deep, but there for the effect.

The music itself is less surprising than Christina. The first five tracks (of which one an intro (Prologos)) move a thematic story forward, although I'm not sure about what with the poeticly vague lyrics, and partly bad English. The piano parts make for a bit light-heartedness. I like War Symphony (Act III). It's the heaviest track, and the grunter's vocals distorted make for a fitting effect to the theme.

The final track, Vampire Hunters, although it's called 'Epilogos', seems to stand apart from the others. A militaristic march, written by a non-bandmember, and instead of vocals there are samples from Bram Stoker's Dracula, quoting von Hellsing. It's nice though, as this track does have a fair level of bombasm.