Press Info (from 2004)

It’s been almost three years since AGATHODAIMON released their last album „Chapter III“.

Much has happened since then, a period which was used intensely by the band to change some internal structures, work on their style and polish it. And the long waiting was definitely worth it. “Serpent’s Embrace” shows the capabilities of a band that presents their best album so far, blessed by a superior production (again recorded at the Kohlekeller Studio (Crematory etc.) which doesn’t need to fear any comparisons. Concerning the musical aspect, AGATHODAIMON again display a wide range of styles, which fit perfectly into the album as a whole. Lifted up from the cradle in 1995, the band since then always strived for progression and evolution, beginning with their early demos, their milestone-debut “Blacken The Angel”, and continued with the progressive “Higher Art Of Rebellion”-album, which widely crossed the borders of black metal. “Chapter III” then displayed the quintessence of their history and also the turning point for “Serpent’s Embrace”.
Their latest opus shows a band that is operating on a high musical level, far away from following any trends or restrictions of genres. Guitarist/vocalist Sathonys explains: “AGATHODAIMON has always been a band that is tries to develop its style into something unique, while having an eye and ear on the song structures and steady progression of the band. We don’t try to be different just for the sake of it. Our progression will always be a natural one. The songs became more mature with every release, some things simply shouldn’t be rushed if you want to achieve a convincing result.” Therefore, “Serpent’s Embrace” is a well-worked out album, showing many elements of today’s extreme metal, without denying the root of AGATHODAIMON.

Beginning with the opening track “Cellos For The Insatiable” which portraits the rhythm-oriented aspects of the band as well as the way this quintett manages to weave modern elements into black metal. The title track then displays the affinity for theatrical music, supported by a catchy chorus and a big amount of clean vocals. “Light Reborn” then is another good example for modern sounds and accentuated riffs, enriched by a clean hookline, excellent guitar soli and an impressive synth-part. “Faded Years” flows like molten lava and even partly reminds of their classic song “Banner Of Blasphemy”, including a fast blastbeat-passage. “Solitude” then is the album’s ballad, a habit that AGATHODAIMON started with their second album. This time, there’s not even distorted guitars, the song itself is mostly based on the excellent vocals of Ophelia (who already had some guest appearances in the past (on “Blacken The Angel” etc.)) and the excellent keyboards/synths. “Limbs Of A Stare” then is one of the most brutal songs on this record, packed with intensity and a lot of variation, followed by “The Darkness Inside” which features again catchy melodies and vocal lines, mixed with a solid groove. “Feelings” then sums up the album with a very atmospheric and emotional song that has a moody outro, led by acoustic guitars.

AGATHODAIMON prove that they know how to deliver excellent songs, or to be more precise, an excellent album that doesn’t feature any flaws, but lots of positive aspects and therefore should be a must for metal-gourmets that are looking for something special in this crowded scene.

Lyrics

Cellos For The Insatiable

Once again, Jekyllish I follow
The trail of fireflies- and diamond eyes.
And moving like fog, I starve to raise.
Sleepwalking hunter in the night

Step into an ongoing nightmare
Go – ride into blistering trails below – tear heart and soul
Stop – for jekyllish I’ll haunt you, though
A sleepwalking hunter in despair – take care of you

I brave for sin
Shedding my skin

Curtains fall over my shroud, around my wrists the orchestra plays.
Frozen, this bosom aches, piercing lullabies, piercing preys.

Only cellos, black robes and gowns, dimly dance for air in grief.
And looming portraits of a mother gazing at my inner pleas.

Fear me for Jekyllish I’ll haunt you
Your trail of fireflies and diamond eyes.
Moving like fog, I starve to raise.
Sleepwalking fiend, Caligarish sorrow.

I invoke the Queen of spades..
And slowly breathe the verse of fate.
I reap the mists of grace.
To bid farewell to faith

Clenched cries, her drowning sweet hands bygone, waving and fleeting.
Dull slave to my mournful twists she bled, like a rainbow leaking.

Wax victims in a ritual, echoes to quench my frailty at dawn.
The Fifth Horseman I become, riding those whispers spawned.

Fear me for Jekyllish I’ll haunt you
Your trail of fireflies and diamond eyes.
Moving like fog, I starve to raise.
Sleepwalking fiend, Caligarish sorrow

Soon forgotten faces shine on shattered mirrors, remnants of rape.
Supremely, skin cellos play the ghost of melodies and darkest shade.

Fear me for Jekyllish I’ll haunt you
Your trail of fireflies and diamond eyes.
Moving like fog, I starve to raise.
Sleepwalking fiend, Caligarish sorrow.

A warm tune for claws and chaos
I breed the rust of wind (breed the rust of wind),
While, holding back loss,
shame and tears,
I brave for sin
Shedding my skin
I brave for sin

Serpent's Embrace

She was the dawn of a new day
The crystal voice inside my head –
And at times she showed me eden
Untrodden paths, a sky that’s bleedin’

Serpent’s embrace
Serpents embrace

Darkness waiting in her eyes, her gaze
Kissed by a fraudulent snake
A soul eater
Serpent’s embrace
Serpents embrace

She was the dawn of a new day
but all it brought was pure dismay

The sky and sun turned black
Nailed black as ebony
And there was no turning back
No turning back!

A golden sun in past times, floating high above
Looking back from now, a collection of strange days, for love

And at times I realized
Everything must surely end – some day

Darkness waiting in her eyes,
Darkness waiting in her gaze
She gave birth to a worm of lies
A place of shadows mourn
A soul eater
Serpent’s embrace

Every dawn of a new day
Too far away, but death is cheap
There’s a giant, black sun below
Maybe just below the ground, about six feet deep –
Beneath the undertow
Beneath the undertow

Rebirth

I have seen how the same human souls
Wander through different bodies
Drifting through the centuries
When flesh decayed

Chorus:
For ages drifting in the wind
Through landscapes unknown
Among worlds where the suns never die
Where moonlight is bright as day
Beyond timeless void
Beyond all the spheres
In a realm where the powers of earth
Are bound in the fathomless sky

An endless journey- perpetual suffering

When heartbeat has died
And earthly life has ended
The trip through the emptiness begins
Vultures free your bones
From flesh and blood
Make your spirit soar

Your soul- lost in space
Struggling for a new life
Awaiting rebirth
To be captured
In a human body again

Light Reborn

On a thought I’d rest
Like a sigh in a glorious gloom
I crawl under her skin
To divinely kiss her sin

I just claim on my purity
In external community
I’m not searching for (any) solutions
But trying to avoid confusions

Till fades the very earth and sky
Your heart completely broken
And all the world hangs on a sigh
A word but partly spoken

I’m looking for resistance
And you’ll feel my persistence

If you are here to obey me
You get what you deserve
When thoughts pursue me
Can’t decide what’s true in me

I just claim on my purity
In external community
I’m not searching for (any) solutions
But trying to avoid confusions

I’m looking for resistance
You’ll feel my persistence

To disguise desire’s utopia
To feed THE emotional idea
To forget not to forgive
To arise from dignity’s ruin…

Faded Years

To not forget our loving, should I a sign implore?
I’d ask for you, but dearest, you are your own no more.
Nor do I beg a flower from in your golden hair;
Forgetfulness, beloved is but my single prayer.

Oh what a sad sensation, when joy that soon did wane,
Not swift with it to vanish, but ever here remain!

When through this life to wander it has been writ, it seem
A dream made out of shadow, a shadow made of dream

No matter when I die, this or some later day,
My wish is out of the mind of all to I pass away,
And you forget the dream that our two hearts endears.
When you look back, beloved, upon the faded years

Let in the depths of shadow my memory be gone
As though we midst our loving each other had not known
A chant of lamentation within cold walls of chime
To beg for me in weeping the peace of endless time

As though those hours of wonder in fact we did not live
That I so deeply love you dear one can you forgive?

My face turned to the desert you left me all alone
And cold beneath my eyelids my eyes have turned to stone.
And when at last death’s soil my body does reclaim,
Then who will know me or know from whence I came?

Let in the depths of shadow my memory be gone
As though we midst our loving each other had not known
A chant of lamentation within cold walls of chime
To beg for me in weeping the peace of endless time

While then… should they my body into the gutter throw
Still that would be far better than what I suffer now

Afar of in distance a flock of crows arise
And darken all the heavens before my sightless eyes
Beyond the earth’s steep margin a hurricane does start,
Flinging to the world my dust and to the wind my heart.

Yet as in spring the blossom do you remain the while,
With gentle eyes and humid, and tender, childish smile
So much a child, yet seeming each day to younger grow,
And of my fate know nothing, as I too nothing know.

My face turned to the desert you left me all alone
And cold beneath my eyelids my eyes have turned to stone.

And when at last death’s soil my body does reclaim,
Then who will know me or know from whence I came?
While then… should they my body into the gutter throw
Still that would be far better than what I suffer now

Video

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Serpent’s Embrace

Artist : Agathodaimon
Catalog ref. : NB 1257
Format : CD

Arranged By – Agathodaimon, Kohle
Bass, Vocals [Clean] – Eddie “Darin” Smith
Drums – Matthias Rodig
Guitar, Vocals [Clean] – Sathonys
Keyboards, Synth – Felix Ü. Walzer
Producer – Kohle
Recorded By, Mixed By – Kristian “Kohle” Kohlmannslehner
Vocals, Guitar – Frank “Akaias” Nordmann