Adagio - Archangels In Black

[Iced Dog]

The verses of R'yleh get me every time. He sounds like a demon or something.

That song is one of the best ever...the intro is amazing, and I love the dueling clean & harsh vocals

As for AIB, it was kind of "meh" upon first listen, but it got much better on the 2nd time through, and now I'm really digging it. I do agree that the growls sound better overall on Dominate, but I think they're more than adequate on AIB. I miss Gus Monsanto, but the new vocalist certainly isn't bad...just doesn't have that special quality I thought Gus provided. I think Stephan was fairly on target when he described AIB to be a combination of the orchestral leanings of the first two albums with the aggressiveness/darkness of Dominate. At any rate, I'm happy with the release and will pick it up soon

 

[symphonyXjapan]

That song is one of the best ever...the intro is amazing, and I love the dueling clean & harsh vocals

As for AIB, it was kind of "meh" upon first listen, but it got much better on the 2nd time through, and now I'm really digging it. I do agree that the growls sound better overall on Dominate, but I think they're more than adequate on AIB. I miss Gus Monsanto, but the new vocalist certainly isn't bad...just doesn't have that special quality I thought Gus provided. I think Stephan was fairly on target when he described AIB to be a combination of the orchestral leanings of the first two albums with the aggressiveness/darkness of Dominate. At any rate, I'm happy with the release and will pick it up soon

I remember not being super impressed on first listen; however, there do seem to be some things you don't pick up until 2 or 3 more listens. My first listen was while sitting at the computer and doing other things. The next couple of listens I had were in my car and during those listens it really clicked with me. I dunno, thats just me though.

Also, I do remember the harsh vocals being different in Dominate, and now that I think about it it seems that they were of a more high pitched black metal style of vocals. The growls on AIB seem lower pitched like deah/thrash vocals over a more black metal influenced musical style. Now that I am typing this while listening to the album I am noticing that the harsh vocals seem low, volume wise, in the mix? I remember the growls in Dominate being quite a bit louder...

 

[Iced Dog]

Yeah, that happens a lot where you listen to something the first time and aren't totally focused on it and can't really form an opinion that's worth a shit I'm currently hooked on Twilight At Dawn...love the chorus with the growls and punchy rhythm guitar, just badass

 

[DoomsdayZach]

so what happened? I remember a few years ago when underworld came out and everyone was cumming all over about Sanctus Ignis. Did that really get forgotten so quickly?

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

I'm currently hooked on Twilight At Dawn.

One of the strongest songs on AIB, in my opinion, along with the last song.

 

[Iced Dog]

I discovered Adagio when Dominate was released, and I actually prefer that and AIB over the first two albums...so I'm probably in the minority

 

[DoomsdayZach]

I literally never listened to them other than one song which i believe was from Underworld. I downloaded the discography (quite illegally, mind you) to check them out and see if I have any interest in them as a band before I even think about purchasing their stuff.

Oh, the song i heard was "The Mirror Stage" about 4-5 years ago. I can't say i was overly impressed at the time, let's see if the years have changed me.

 

[Swabs]

My favourite so far is The Astral Pathway, catchy chorus

 

[proulxski]

I did Underworld thats about it, and Zach. I'm pretty much the same way, its so damn hard to get good music out here withouth online ordering. So I much prefer to hear if I like a band, or an album before buying it. Could save myself some money and some space on my already over populated cd rack!

 

[Ultimate_Symphony]

It's kind of odd that so many people around here don't like Adagio, specially considering how similar both bands are.

 

[Swabs]

It's kind of odd that so many people around here don't like Adagio, specially considering how similar both bands are.

Indeed, apart from Adagio I cant think of any band that are even somewhat similiar to SX.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

circus maximus are a pretty good symx ripoff. and by "good" i mean "blatant", not interesting or enjoyable.

 

[Phanto]

circus maximus best work were the free demos they released before the first album.

 

[razoredge]

CM sounds to me pretty much like a hybrid clone of SX and DT, which is where they started by playing music of these bands. I do enjoy the two CD's I have occasionally, but in the process it is blatantly obvious.

 

[proulxski]

The differince is Symphony x doesn't try to be Symphony X, but everyone else attempts to sound like them. And its just not possible, and IMO Adagio and Symphony X sound nothing alike accept a song here or there on Underworld!

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

It's kind of odd that so many people around here don't like Adagio, specially considering how similar both bands are.

Symphony X and Adagio are similar in theory, but upon futher examination of their songs you can begin to spot the differences.

For example, Symphony X's songs flow a lot smoother than Adagio's; the latter seem to have many songs with a "disjointed" feel to them. For example, listen to Next Profundis - there's an overt transitional fill between almost every section of that song, like they couldn't find another way to transition into the next part. Adagio's songs sometimes feel like a "cut and paste" job to me, while Symphony X's transitions make their songs smooth and creamy like butter.

 

[proulxski]

+ 1

 

[Iced Dog]

So you're saying SymphX is like creamy butter, whereas Adagio is more like salmonella-infested peanut butter? You bite your tongue, mister! One interesting point where they are similar is that the last two albums for each band are both darker/heavier than previous fare.

 

[Detective Clarence Beauregard]

So you're saying SymphX is like creamy butter, whereas Adagio is more like salmonella-infested peanut butter?

I would consider Adagio to be more like MRSA; Salmonella-infected peanut buuter is more like Circus Maximus.

 

[DoomsdayZach]

Salmonella-infected peanut buuter is more like Circus Maximus.

Did we just become best friends? I THINK SO!!!