Serpent's Embrace

For calling one of the more pigeonholed genres their collective region of lurid residency, Germany's own Agathodaimon were hardly eliciting anything even approaching gastrointestinal butterflies during the period within which the record dropped. With the abstruse and megalomaniacal Death Cult Armageddon still sonically ringing true in the air and throttling general perceptions toward the negative, more polished symphonic black metal acts like Agathodaimon immediately found a more discursive climate already departing for the newly budding trends of the period. The writing was clearly on the wall as early as Higher Art of Rebellion, but on the brilliant Chapter III the band realized that unfurled against the more trite competition that was to be invariably and instinctively drawn against them, they excelled when emphasizing their gothic periphery.

Disregarding the tremendous miscalculation that was the accompanying music video, Serpent's Embrace is for all intents and purposes the spiritual and corporeal followup to Chapter III. Some of the more perceptible shifts in disposition revolve around a slower, serrated riff armament that adopts more habitual gothic elements including laced-in-fizzing-camphor black/doom dirges along with the occasional, more standard rock motif reaching back to shadows past and in turn serving as a nod to the band's more eclectic origins. Along with these more reigned-in qualities comes a paradigm shift in riff delivery, largely coming thick and fast courtesy of meaty powerchords that swing both wide and deep as opposed to the more animated melodic black template present on Chapter III and the like, which often served as counter-battery alongside Walzer's atmospheric soundscapes. We get inklings of the same concept here, albeit it in a decidedly paraphrased constitution.

The band never quite recovered from the departure of Vlad Dracul on a penmanship level, but Nordmann holds these musty catacombs down fairly well on his own. Wickler is also underutilized here, which seriously undermines the eclectic temperament that made earlier outings like Higher Art of Rebellion fantastic and multifaceted experiences that have always stuck with me much longer. The keyboards are used tastefully here, and in the end Serpent's Emprace can be seen as a slightly less memorable and less morbidly heavy twin to Chapter III. The B-side of the record is one that will bifurcate many a fan, as some of the less established deviations from the norm are packed near the end. "The Darkness Inside" is a melodic romp that reminds me quite a bit of Dissection's controversial Reinkaos concerning luscious twin-leadwork nailed onto a surging melodic black template. Wickler's smooth cleans tie the entire song together, and in the end we get one of Agathodaimon's more classic tunes.

This grinds uneventfully with the unmemorable, maudlin closer "Feelings," and some of the faster numbers are rather stock and are tracks best skipped on the whole. Granted with a wider viewpoint afforded by the ten years since Serpent's Embrace originally dropped, this ends up being a pretty standard outing by these guys consistent caliber, but will still satiate most fans of this style despite the aforementioned shortcomings. Nonetheless, this is a disappointment coming off of Agathodaimon's two best albums, and should be experienced only after one tackles Higher Art of Rebellion and Chapter III. All-inclusively speaking, I can find a use for most of these tracks, and come back to this material occasionally, rarely finding myself disappointed in isolation. Solid stuff.