Archangels in Black

Adagio are a French symphonic progressive metal band that have had the ill-fate of being plagued with numerous vocalists over the years. ‘Archangels in Black’ is the band’s fifth release and marks the debut of their new vocalist Christian Palin. This release is significantly different to anything the band has previously committed to tape.

The most striking feature about Adagio’s newest effort is the overwhelmingly heavy new sound they have acquired. The guitars are immensely heavy on virtually every track, fast double bass drumming rears its head and the title track has a black metal riff! The use of growls are present on songs, inclusive of the opening number ‘Vamphyri’, and they sound even more gravely on ‘The Fifth Ankh’. The talents of Palin are suitable but do not detract attention away from the guitars. Fortunately, the band is not solely concerned with making their album as heavy as humanly possible. There are a variety of mood changes though out the release: ‘The Astral Pathway’ is an eldritch number; ‘Fear Circus’ shares a fairy tale-sounding moment; ‘Undead’ has sophistication in the form of a classical guitar introduction.

The novelty of having Adagio play very heavy music is that it gets old rapidly. The riffs no longer seem impressive or versatile. The frequency of the dark and heavy sections undermines the power of them used elsewhere on the release. The growls seem to be there for the sake of increasing the heaviness of this album and the release could stand alone without them.

While heavy symphonic progressive metal is fairly uncommon, this could divide Adagio’s fanbase in two. Nonetheless, it is good to see them add something new to their musical repertoire.

Originally written for www.soundshock.net