Heavy Space Agency
Alben:
Agathodaimon
BIOGRAPHY:
Agathodaimon meanwhile can look back on a long history- founded 1995 by guitarist Sathonys and drummer Matthias, their highly acclaimed debut BLACKEN THE ANGEL was produced in 1998 for Nuclear Blast. One year later, the progressive HIGHER ART OF REBELLION-album was recorded in Romania and showed that Agathodaimon opened themselves to a wide range of styles.
2001 then saw the release of CHAPTER III, which laid the foundation for all further works: transparent, pounding, modern productions which nevertheless sound timeless, while the band continued crossing frontiers and leave the label “Black Metal” far behind.
Furthermore, SERPENT’S EMBRACE continued this development in 2004 and delivered both straight and nested songs, including lots of different styles and levels of heaviness.
Ranging from pure Black Metal to a true ballad, this album gave the term “Dark Metal” a new meaning. It took the band more than four years until PHOENIX was completed.
A time which brought some personal changes, but also brought new energy: With PHOENIX, Agathodaimon deliver a vital, unconsumed Dark Metal-album, which sums up the essence of all previous works and still is able to offer new impulses.
“We needed some time to regain our strength after personal changes and to ensure that we’d produce a preferably good and convincing album”, explains Sathonys.
“We wanted to avoid recording unfinished songs just because of time pressure.
To the contrary, we took our time to work meticulously with the new members on the album.” Besides the virtous guitar play of guitarist Jan Jansohn, especially the work of vocalist Ashtrael is noticeable, who not only delivers sovereign Black Metal-screams, but also widens the vocal range to Death Metal and even shares clean vocals with Sathonys.
(Fans might be delighted to hear that also ex-vocalist and guitarist Frank “Akaias” Nordmann has some guest appearances on the album) Also, keyboarder Felix Walzer refines the songs again in a skilful and familiar way, injecting partly sinfonic, partly surprising but harmonious sounds, while drummer Manuel Steitz (who replaces Matthias who left the band due to personal reasons) and bassist Till Ottinger complete the lineup as a precise rhythm section.
PHOENIX was again produced at the Kohlekeller Studio (with Kristian “Kohle” Kohlmannslehner as engineer) and features 12 songs with a playing time of 63 minutes, while the limited first edition as digipack includes two bonus tracks (the soundtrack-contribution to “Alone In The Dark” in the original balladic and a brand new version), exceeding the playing time to over 72 minutes.
LINE-UP:
Ashtrael – vocals
Sathonys – guitars, clean vocals
Jan Jansohn – guitars
Felix Walzer – keys
Till Ottinger – bass
Manuel Steitz – drums
DISCOGRAPHY:
1998 Blacken The Angel
1999 Higher Art Of Rebellion
2001 Chapter III
2004 Serpent’s Embrace
2009 Phoenix
FACTS:
- The fifth album by Germany’s leading dark metal band AGATHODAIMON
- Limited edition Digipak with two bonus track and more than 72 minutes of music!
- Produced at Kohlekeller Studio (Crematory, Flowing Tear a.o.)
- Excellent following in both metal and gothic scene since 1995 – on tour a.o. with Benediction, Dismember, Hypocrisy, Children Of Bodom, Raise Hell, Dimmu Borgir or Lacrimosa. – Appearance on all major open air festivals in the past decade like a.o. Wacken 2000, Windo Rock, Wave Gotik Treffen etc.)
- Online-stream and song teaser before album release (Myspace site).
- Song featured on the soundtrack of the Hollywood movie „Alone in the Dark“
- Flyer and e-newsletter spread to more than 100.000 contacts by Street Team
- Huge crossover potential in both metal and gothic markets – Top priority marketing with full page adds in a.o. Metal Hammer, Rock Hard, Legacy, Blast!, Terrorizer
- Track placement of „Heliopolis“ on Metal Hammer, Legacy, Metal Hammer Hungary and other mag compilations
- Poster in Legacy magazine (March issue)
- Excellent press and sales results for previous albums
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