Odes of Ecstacy

Odes of Ecstacy

Embossed Dream In Four Acts 1998

A gothic metal band from Greece? Somehow I can't imagine a doomy and gloomy band coming from sun-parched Greece. And indeed, Odes of Ecstasy come across relatively more pleasant than gloomsome.

It still fits the description of gothic metal though. The accent might not be on atmosphere and bombasm like with other (notably Dutch) gothic metal bands, but the line-up with keyboards, clean female vocals and gruff male vocals is there. They're not darker than thou in terms of music, but the lyrics still revolve around light and darkness, intense emotion and abstract concepts.

The main reason I like this album, are Christina Maniati's vocals. She has an extremely likeable voice; warm and powerful; clear as water, but with the timbre of a mountain-stream. And it has an added hard to describe quality that distinguishes her from 'average' female clean vocalists in metal. Like Kate Bush, but wholly different. Other than the brief chants, she sings mostly in short bursts. Possibly due to a limitation on the part of Christina, it does keep me hungering for more. Her voice ranges from mid to high range.

The male vocalist pales in comarison for the most part; a hoarse gruff grunt (sometimes spoken), and like the drums not bassy and deep, but there for the effect.

The music itself is less surprising than Christina. The first five tracks (of which one an intro (Prologos)) move a thematic story forward, although I'm not sure about what with the poeticly vague lyrics, and partly bad English. The piano parts make for a bit light-heartedness. I like War Symphony (Act III). It's the heaviest track, and the grunter's vocals distorted make for a fitting effect to the theme.

The final track, Vampire Hunters, although it's called 'Epilogos', seems to stand apart from the others. A militaristic march, written by a non-bandmember, and instead of vocals there are samples from Bram Stoker's Dracula, quoting von Hellsing. It's nice though, as this track does have a fair level of bombasm.

Copas dari http://www.metal-archives.com/reviews/Odes_of_Ecstasy/Embossed_Dream_In_Four_Acts/5485/

Tracklist:
1.     Autumn's Grief (Prologos)        
2.     The Total Absence Of Light (Act I)
3.     Faithless (Act II)
4.     War Symphony (Act III)    
5.     Garden Of Temptation (Act IV)
6.     Vampire Hunters (Epilogos)      

Deceitful Melody 2000

Tracklist:
1.     Ignorance  
2.     Deceitful Melody   
3.     One With The Darkness
4.     The Floating City Of Sin  
5.     Abstract Thoughts 
6.     The Conquerer Worm
7.     Stigma    
8.     In Despair  

TKP

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