ARCHANGELS IN BLACK

After moving into simpler, more mainstream music with Dominate, Adagio promised a move back toward the sound of the brilliant Underworld, with deathl vocals and style in tow. Where did they end up? Well, somewhere between Dominate and Underworld, which is to say that they didn't entirely fail in their attempt, but tracks are almost distinctly in the style of one or the other.

That's not to say that everything is quite the same. I was immediately struck by the balance of the album. The keyboards have been toned down yet again, and the guitar track dominates the sound. While Dominate was noticeably more guitar-centric than Underworld, Archangels in Black easily flattens Dominate. As you can imagine, it's just too much. Comparing Archangels in Black is far more difficult a task than you might imagine simply because the balance of sound is so different. But anyway, I'll try to be fair. Christian Palin's vocals are an improvement on the clean side and slightly weaker in the growls, but you'll find the former to be much more important.

So let's get started:

Vamphyri is the first track and gets off to the start you'd expect from the successor to Dominate. A short guitar riff in the left channel, the beginning of growl in the right channel, and off we go with the double-pedal and shredding on top of heavy guitar riff. Reminds heavily of Dominate's title track (which was, in my opinion, one of the better tracks on the album, mind you). Then the air suddenly clears and the band enters into a section which really could have been on Underworld. Streamlined, perhaps, from the style of their fine sophomore album, but the variation is welcome. The chorus itself also tends to blend the styles of Dominate and Underworld, borrowing some of the technical flow of Underworld and cramming it into a tight, exacting package. It's hard to say that they've taken Underworld and made it more "brutal", but they've at least come much closer to what Underworld was, and it still feels enjoyable.

And now, and interlude: you see, Vamphyri isn't even four-and-a-half minutes long. And this is something you'll get used to with this entire album. It's not just that it's condensed. I would bet that, over the course of the entire album, there are significantly more notes played in significantly less time than in Underworld. It's faster and heavier than Dominate, for the most part. Sometimes, the frantic pace works out for them. Vamphyri essentially feeds off the energy, making it feel more darkly bombastic than much of Dominate did. Other tracks, like the abysmal final track, just sound silly and simplified (think Dark Moor minus the neoclassicism). Either way, don't expect to take your time with this album. It comes at you at a hawk's pace.

The Astral Pathway borrows the sound of Underworld more than Vamphyri (at a slightly faster tempo than Underworld, of course). In terms of song structure and notes, it's classic Adagio. But what is notably missing from the track is what has them listed here at PA. The track lacks complex phrasing entirely, and while that in itself wouldn't be so bad, listening to the track makes you feel like something is missing. Unfortunately, you'll get that with much of this album: too much verse-chorus. It's still a pretty decent track, though, but there are better to be had on the album.

Fear Circus is a small train wreck for the album. Sounds like something off of Dominate with a little extra technicality and a small interlude. The song really could do without the first 2 minutes, and it's only 4 minutes long. It's just not a good track. The chorus is terribly uninspired and the guitar solo falls flat on its face. Simplistic structure, generally uninteresting. Kinda burns me that this track is on their MySpace page as it's the second-worst on the album.

Undead starts with an interesting piano flourish at typical Archangels tempo (a Next Profundis reference?), but then blasts into a seemingly-unrelated guitar riff. Piano comes back in, but needs to be mixed a lot louder. It's just too quiet. The song is strictly verse-chorus from here. While it's not really a bad track (not like Fire Forever was), it's just not good at all. It's simplistic, generic, and uninspired. It would be filler if there were such a thing on metal albums.

Note that at this point in my first listen, I was feeling a little bit... disappointed. Vamphyri and Astral Pathway were good, though not entirely what I would really have liked to see on the album. Fear Circus and Undead felt more like Dominate tracks. My fears were being realized: that Adagio was just adding in a little bit of Underworld here or there but mostly were just going with Dominate part 2.

Then along came Archangels in Black. I recommend this and Codex Oscura to all disillusioned Underworld fans who don't want to waste time with another Dominate. Archangels bears some of the fruit that made Underworld so good: the intro is a dark orchestral section (something that was once Adagio's MO), and one doesn't have to listen so hard to hear the keyboard part. Key signature and temp changes aren't shied away from. And while it doesn't quite meet the standards of technical complexity that Underworld set so high, it's still a fair shake. I'll go so far as to say that it's an outright good song, and wouldn't feel all that out-of-place on Underworld or Sanctus Ignis.

The Fifth Ankh is Adagio's best impression of Beyond Twilight. I don't know what it is about the track that really makes me feel like this track could be on Section X -- maybe it's the laugh (Do you like what you see!? Hahahaha!). It really feels more like an angry version of Sanctus Ignis or a continuation of Children of the Dead Lake (which I thought was probably the best track on Dominate). It's a lot of verse-chorus again (something that there was plenty of on Sanctus Ignis and even Underworld), but the experimental feel makes this one of the better tracks.

Codex Oscura is their symphonic epic, and it's a winner. It is more or less what they were aiming for with the rest of the album but mostly fell short of. The sound is heavy and oppressive, but it never feels like Adagio is just trying to jam their way out of another track. It's all well-composed, with the traditional Adagio symphonic intro and soaring vocals along with the the technical solos and so on. They even play some with the melodic phrasing, something not seen in most other tracks. There is some growling, of course, and the song completely sells itself to the new Adagio sound, but it contains all the hallmarks of the great Adagio tracks of old. This one really should please fans of Adagio old and new.

Twilight at Dawn obviously wasn't going to live up to Codex Oscura, so let's not be too unfair to it. The intro should be nothing surprising by now. This track has just about every word mirrored by a growl. The chorus is also just a yell followed by growled words. Everything else about it is pretty unremarkable. Some technical play here and there, a symphonic interlude, and a rare quiet guitar solo. Not great, but not bad. Kinda how I feel about the whole album.

Getsu Senshi must be Japanese for falling off the wagon. That's all I can figure out from this Disaster Movie of a song. The drums sound like a crappy punk beat, the guitar line is simple and repetitive (power chords over and over and over), and even the vocals sound bad. Not only does it not fit on the album, it's flatly bad. Just eject the CD after Twilight. It's over. Please don't subject yourself to this utter shit.

In closing, it's worth noting that Archangels in Black is neither bad nor good. It's not a triumphant return to the Underworld, nor is it another stumble like Dominate. It has its moments, for sure, and Codex Oscura should be worth listening to for everyone, but for an album as short as it is, there just isn't all that much to chew on. Fans of Adagio should enjoy it, but it's not quite great. Maybe in a few more years they'll come up with Underworld 2 filled with 70 minutes of Codex Oscura. Then I'd be a happy man.

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