CoC : Angizia - Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin : Review

Angizia - _Das Tagebuch der Hanna Anikin_
(Napalm Records, 1997)
by: Henry Akeley (5.5 out of 10)

Ah, another Angizia release: another eccentric, verbose, and occasionally silly sounding fusion of elements of chamber music, theater, and metal. Not that there's much of the latter, mind you: hollow rhythm guitar, very restrained drumming, and intermittent black metal shrieking are all the (so-called) metal we get. Rather, placid piano melodies, melodramatic male singing, and well done female soprano vocals dominate the sound, so that the overall impression is that of a chamber music ensemble who've cordially invited Glenn Tipton and Count Grishnackh over for a little Sunday afternoon melody making. There's a great deal of wordiness to this band, for whom the melody lines serve not as the music's primary focus, but rather as mere backdrops for nearly incessant vocalizing -- in this case, three vocalists using Russian, German, and English to fill us in on the fictitious biography of a 19th-century Russian pauper. Anyway, at least they've done away with the horrid tenor vocalist from their last album; as well, the melodies offered here are much less cloying and sing-songy than those on the band's previous releases. As a result, this album sounds much more mature and much less foolish than those earlier efforts. Still, this stuff is nowhere near as artistically advanced or innovative as the band seems to think, and as classical/metal fusions go, it's pretty heavy on fairly tepid classical and very light on the metal, especially when compared to superior albums like Dismal Euphony's _Soria Moria Slott_ or Master's Hammer's _The Filemnice Occultist_. In any case, this is a noticeable improvement over Angizia's earlier material.

(article published 1/1/1998)

ALBUMS
3/16/1997	S Hoeltzel	5	Angizia - Die Kemenanten Sharlachroter Lichter