Year: 2022
Total Time: 49.18
Label: Napalm Records
One of the most interesting news I’ve heard lately was the return of the Symphonic Black/Gothic Metal band AGATHODAIMON (active since 1995), nine years after the very good “In Darkness” of 2013. This band is one of the best and most creative German bands in this genre! The band’s leader Martin “Sathonys” Wickler (guitar and clear vocals) has found new members for the creation of “The Seven” which is obviously the seventh album of the band. Vocalist Chris “Ashtrael” Bonner continues in the band and the new menbers have the nicknames “Nakhateth”, “Von Yanesh” and “Mortos” (on guitar, bass and drums respectively).
The album begins with “La Haine” melodically, with some “devilish” riffs reminding DISSECTION, leading to a very dark mid tempo rhythm. “Ain’t Death Grand” is the first song that the new line-up has recorded together and it belongs at their “hardest” side with its blast beat rhythms. It is followed by “Wolf Within”, which is the first hit of the album, a dark Black Metal track with gothic passages and clean vocals which belongs to the “classic” songs that the band knows well how to compose. “Ghosts Of Greed” is reminiscent of the early days of the band, while “Mother Of All Gods” is more in the direction of “Chapter III” with its symphonic parts. The very good “Estrangement”, is an epic and dark mid tempo composition, which in the end turned into Black Metal! After the rather indifferent instrumental “In My Dreams (Part 1 – Prelude)”, comes another interesting song with a lot of Death Metal elements, entitled “In My Dreams (Part 2 – In Bitterness)”, having a very nice chorus. “Kyrie-Gloria” is also quite good and finally “The Divine” closes the album in the same way, featuring a guest appearance of former singer/keyboardist Vlad Dracul. It reminds me of the old days of the band and it’s probably my favorite song from the whole album!
To sum up, “The Seven” is closely related to its predecessor “In Darkness”, especially with the mix of Black Metal and Dark, Doom, Symphonic style but also Gothic music. It is close to the sound of FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE and CARACH ANGREN although I don’t think they can compete with them at the moment… Note that there are alternations of very harsh and clear vocals everywhere (to be honest I would prefer it to a lesser extent) … But these are AGATHODAIMON and if you liked their previous records, you will like this one too.
Rating: 6,5/10
Editor: Dimitris Argyrakis
Related Link: AGATHODAIMON – Facebook Page
