Adventurous and unique, Agathodaimon marries the black, death, dark, gothic metal styles into an undeniably impressive whole on this, their third release. Nuclear Blast.
Adventurous and unique, Agathodaimon marries the black, death, dark, gothic metal styles into an undeniably impressive whole on this, their third release. Nuclear Blast.
"Agathodaimon falls into the melodic black metal realm, sort of like early Cradle of Filth and Siebenburgen. They have a very good drummer and the guitar work (which includes some great acoustic pieces) is fantastic. The vocals are the typical you'd hear on a BM album, sounding a lot like Satyr from Satyricon. They also have a guy with a synthesized robotic voice doing some voiceovers, and there are some clean vocals scattered throughout the album. Best songs in my opinion are "An Angel's Funeral," "Departure," and the ballad-ish "Sacred Divinity" (which does have some great heavy parts). It's something you should get if you're a black metal fan open to other genres. If you're the type who listens to nothing but Burzum (great band) and DarkThrone, then you might not like it. If you're more of a Cradle or Dimmu fan, and want something a little less cheesy and more aggressive, then Agathodaimon's Chapter III is for you. The only thing I don't like is that they don't give you a list of what each member plays."
Wonderfully Diverse
Mark Horvath | Inside a Hallowed Mind, Earth | 10/08/2004
(4 out of 5 stars)
"I could only not give this album a 5th star because of some minor complaints, which i will get to later. First off, this is not a CD for the weak of heart, some truely HEAVY and BRUTAL black metal is encased within this cd. However, Chapter II also appears to have something for everyone, dark, gothic parts, thrashy crunchfests, as well as your traditional dark/black metal elements. Musicianship is definately top notch here, obviously everything was crafted wisely down to the last beat.
Now for my lone complaints. The vocals do tend to get semi annoying at some points. The echo on the vocals gets used often, which kind of takes away from the album. The clean voice is heavenly, almost like a progressive beauty gone goth, i would love to see more use of those vocals. Other than that, this album is very solid from a large up and coming act that is playing very intelligent and diverse black metal.
If you are into the black metal genre, i also highly recommend Darkthrone, whom is a legend in the field, as well as Bathory. Don't limit yourselves to the industry elite such as Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth. While both are very good in their own regard, the underground possesses some of the strongest acts today!"
A unique blend of Black Metal
pancho lefty | Saratoga Springs, NY, USA | 02/04/2003
(5 out of 5 stars)
"I have long been a Metal fan, although I'm relitively new to the Black Metal genre, but on a whim I picked this CD up and couldn't stop listening. While fans of more traditional Black Metal may not approve of Chapter III, the albulm is fabulous for someone devolping a taste for extreme metal. This albulm has elements of many other genres, particularly, the melodic/goth/death elements that are present throughout. I'd have to say that "The ending of our yesterday" is my favorite track on this release with "An Angel's Funeral" and "Sacred Divinity" close behind. So definitely pick this one up."
Great Black Metal from Germany
Richard Terry | Denver, CO United States | 08/03/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Germany's Agathodaimon raised the bar higher with the 2001 release of Chapter III. This guys are part of the new wave of black metal coming out of Europe along with Dimmu Borgir, Old Man's Child and Cradle of Filth. What we have with Chapter III is modern black metal and it is finely produced. The 'wall of noise' that Emperor, Darkthrone and Burzum made famous is not present here. This is the black metal of the present and future.
Chapter III stars with a wonderful piece titled 'An Angel's Funeral.' Soft, haunting acoustics start off this song and then vintage black metal shrieks and harsh riffs furiously make their way. 'Spirit Soldier' is a song that may remind the listener of recent Cradle of Filth material. It is one of the longest tracks besides 'Sacred Divinity' which is a beautiful mellow song, more of a ballad. 'Departure' is a great song starting with a symphonic piece, and there are clean vocals and black metal shrieks throughout.
The vocals by Akaias are very well done. He has a great voice for the genre. Santhonys also helps out with vocals and guitar. the keyboards present add to the overall darker mood of the album, but are not symphonic like anything by Dimmu Borgir or Emperor. Fans of modern black metal should appreciate this band. Purist Black metal fans who only listen to older black metal including Darkthrone, old Immortal or Emperor's 'Into the Nightside Eclipse' might not like Chapter III. Agathodaimon have forged into the future of black metal with this great release."
No need for Cradle of Filth anymore...
Tom Z | USA | 07/30/2004
(5 out of 5 stars)
"...now that I discovered Agathodaimon. what this is is what COF would be if they didn't drown their music in keyboards, hire symphonies to cover up their lack of creativity and just overall sound cheesy. Nothing after Dusk and Her Embrace can even compare to this, and even that probably isn't as good. Agathodaimon encorporate clean vox,keyboards and acoustics but it's always in the background adding to the atmosphere not used to cover up their failures. The one thing I found strange about this is it gets better as it goes on rather than most albums which put their best songs first and their filler last. By far the best gothic black metal band. Here's a couple other black metal bands (some gothic some not) worth checking out.
Borknager, Vintersorg, Ram-Zat, Graveworm, Lord Belial, Darzamat, Dark Funeral"