Angelic Foe - Mother Of Abominations
There are certain type of bands out there
which I have been following for many years since the first time I fell in
love with their magical beauty. One of them is an amazing and well-known Sweden
based project Arcana, and I must admit that I didn’t miss even one single album
or EP that was released by this fascinating band. Being a benchmark and a
quintessence of everything that I love in dark neo-classical music, Peter
Bjargo and Co. gave birth to many side-projects of the which
are not less interesting from musical and aesthetic point of view. One of them
legitimately gained my considerable attention during the last week arriving
directly from one of my favorite labels Equilibrium Records, which is responsible
for providing many delightful materials of neo-classic, folk, and martial
industrial origins.
Angelic Foe is the name of my hero and, with her breathtaking voice, Annmari
Thim is behind it presenting the second album
called Mother of Abominations. The
first time that the name of this band appeared on my playlist was during 2012,
but to my great regret "Oppressed by the Heavens" didn't impress me too much. It
is very natural that Angelic Foe was immediately compared by me to its parent
project, because the musical background of both of them sounded quite similar. Unfortunately something was missing inside Angelic Foe, maybe some kind
of drive or excitement that was usually inherent to Arcana. Anyhow without
any doubt, I kept tracking the activity of Annmari and I was more than happy to
discover the new release coming out during the second part of 2015 hoping for
her talent and ability to inflame my heart once again and recover from the past
failure.
From the first tunes of Mother of Abominations, Annmari casts the listener all the way to the magical world in which fairytales become reality. It carries them through a landscape of breathtaking beauty, where elves and dwarves live amongst men, and bravery and generosity are valued above all. Acoustic guitar passages from the previous album are overtaken by bombastic neo-classical melodies which were always a recognizable trademark of Angelic Foe and this record is fully packed with all possible variations. 'Daughter of Comfort' is an opening composition that is ready to shape the vision of ultimate tragedy and I understood immediately what was missing for me in this band four years ago. The answer is simple – HITS. Yes, yes, those sounds and beats bound by the artist's energy that could make me scream with pleasure. I believed that my reaction to the previous album - which was less than a "scream of pleasure" - humiliated the talent of Annmari and her team. Somehow, this time all the elements are assembled in the right way and the album gained a really strong attitude. One of the most striking examples of Angelic Foe's skills is 'All Her Princes are Gone' where the combination of a tragic melody, marching drumming and a gentle insinuating voice create a solid requiem for lonely cold nights.
"Her Nobles shall
be no more
Nor shall kings be
proclaimed there
Her castles shall
be overgrown with thorns
Her fortresses
with thistles and briers... "
'Shapes Without Shadows', 'Pestilence and
Smither', and 'Bewitching Lilith' escorts me gently towards
the highest point of the whole album. In the bombastic seventh track 'Workers
of Harm', Annmari presents all state-of-the-art techniques transforming
abstract concepts of sound into solid images full of never-ending grief. The
album is finalized by less comprehensive, but not less interesting
compositions 'The Judgment' and 'Enemies of God', fiercely preserving the cinematic
fantasy and fairytale.
Indeed, there is no need to be a sophisticated
specialist to recognize the real power and beauty shining in Mother of Abominations. Apparently, this album succeeded to wipe out the
negative impression from the debut album and, furthermore, restored my faith in the ability for dark neo-classic music to offer a truly epic experience. I am
sure that I don't have to remind you the importance of a physical copy; a gorgeous
digipack will enhance the listening process without any doubt. So, what are you
waiting for?
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