Tormentor Erich: 1) A small part of the latest history.
After their last album ‘Serpent’s Embrace’ from 2004 it became a bit quiet in the camp of this German band. They had to deal with some line up changes and also the musical direction made a turn over from melodic black metal to dark metal and some gothic influences. When the line up was steady again and the new musical direction was figured out the band decided to first of all get the new ones settled within the group, and once this was done they started to work on the new album ‘Phoenix’. Agathodaimon never intended to make this full-length a hasty one, and so everything finally came to an end in March 2009, when ‘Phoenix’ saw daylight.
2) The facts.
With ‘Phoenix’ Agathodaimon made an album that has got some very strong selling points. The buyer will get twelve tracks (and if you buy the digi pack you will even receive as a bonus two more song, namely two versions of ‘Alone In The Dark’) and more then one hour of music. When you are into melodic black metal, gothic, (calm) synthesizer metal and you can appreciate some sensitive emotions in your music it would be wise to check ‘Phoenix’ out. The production is crystal clear and the musical skills from the band members are also fine, there is nothing wrong here. The cover shows that Agathodaimon take this album one step further on their well-known path and all these elements combined make this album a well finished album.
3) The emotional factor involved.
It is no big secret that you can always measure an album by clear facts as mentioned here in part two of the review. But only measurable facts do not guarantee that an album will definitely hit you also, and this problem played tricks on me when I listened to ‘Phoenix’. Although there is nothing really wrong on this album, it still doesn’t tickle my attention that much. I miss a certain tension. Or to say it in metaphorical language: this album sounds like a peaceful rippling river on a sunny day. That is rather nice for some time, but after a while I miss the action and I would like to see a speedboat racing by, to make some unexpected waves in the water. Right?
4) The conclusion.
‘Phoenix’ is a good album, but these new styled Agathodaimon songs will probably not automatically please the fans of the first albums. When you are into the faster stuff of the band it would be wise to listen before buying. On the other hand, when you prefer gothic and dark metal it would not harm you to check this one out also.
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