Well one thing I have learnt in my years of reviewing is to take anything written in a press release with a pinch of salt. On paper this is labelled as Arcane Metal (scratches head) and is likened to Summoning, which is a comparison I really don’t hear myself. Nevertheless, upon giving this my usual ten minute spin to decide what to sell it as to our writers I was intrigued enough to throw it straight on my own pile to review. ‘Of Beauty And Sadness’ really does start off well; it rides in on camel-back taking the listener straight into the dry and dust-laden lands of Arabia with its exotic sounds as winding rhythms lead through ‘The Wave’ which ebbs and flows as synths and tearstained piano melodies intertwine and take us across an exotic landscape gradually fizzling into the ether. I love the way the music suddenly creeps back up a la Psycho before falling back into a melancholic soundscape; it’s wonderfully dramatic and works well.
Sadness is definitely the key to this album; there is very little here to put a smile on your face. . ‘The Last Forsaken’ plays through with a very tender, graceful melody and has the feeling of darkness looming overhead, while ‘Svart Hemlangtan’ has a hint of Aaron Stainthorpe to the poetic vocal delivery. Then, at times, it’s just a bit too sentimental. The spoken passage in ‘Goodbye’ for example sounds like its taken straight out of one of the most painfully oestrogen-fuelled soap operas known to (wo)man and, despite being a tad cringeworthy, actually kind of suits the mood of things, the music sweeping back up with romantic bombast and taking the listener further down a journey of emotional despondency. Things tend to feel a little bit too dreary in places; don’t get me wrong, this isn’t unpleasant to listen to at all but it’s the sort of thing you could just leave on in the background without really noticing.
‘Old Throne’ returns to that Arabian vibe this time some street-revelry that breaks out in the midst of sorrowful melody, and by ‘Dopo La Notte’ we’ve flown half way across the world to the Mediterranean with some flamenco guitar and pleasant female vocals that verge on the operatic. This music is all about creating ambience, though I’m not sure it fully succeeds. The main complaint I have with this is that it just sounds incredibly synthetic, a bit like hearing a rough version of an album done as Midi files in Cubase or an equivalent program which would really come to life if there were real instruments involved. Lord Agheros definitely has potential, but has a long way to go yet.
http://www.myspace.com/lordagheros
