Band:	Agrypnie
Album:	Exit
Style:	Melodic black metal, Post-metal
Release date:	August 08, 2008
A review by:	Lucas

01. Mauern
02. Die Last Der Erinnerung
03. Zivilisation
04. 0545
05. Fenster Zum Hof
06. Wohin
07. Während Du Schläfst
08. Schwarz
09. R40.2
10. In Den Weiten
11. Exit

Agrypnie is a relatively young band, coming from the German Black metal scene, with ties with their country mates Nocte Obducta. Now I'm not that familiar with those now-defunct proggy Black metallers, but it appears to me they had somewhat of a cult-following going on. And from what I've heard from both bands it seems fair to say that if you like one, you'll like the other.

But now, on to Agrypnie. Their style of Black metal isn't exactly progressive, but it's still far removed from "Dark Funeral aesthetics". Don't expect non-stop high-speed blast beats. Instead, this album is filled with balanced, well-written songs, ranging from three minutes to a whopping eleven. Predictability is surely not one of the keywords here.

Torsten's vocals are quite expressive; he has that rough-but-understandable, harsh yet sad tone in his voice. Unfortunately his vocal style is marked by very short, abrupt shouts whereas lengthier, longer screams would have fitted better. He does that as well though, reminding me a little of one of Germany's best Black metal bands ever, Nagelfar. Riffwise there are is also plenty to enjoy. "Exit" has a fresh touch to it, that feeling that a few surprises are ready to jump out of the corner. That's mainly due to the riffs, which carefully crawl their way through fast and slow tempi, tremolos and parts of the chugged, meatier kind. There's also a legion of guitar driven atmospheric interludes on the album, which adds to the variety of an already diverse and interesting album.

To summarize: Agrypnie is good. For the German (Pagan) Black metal fan this is a killer album. If heroic screams, dark yet energetic riffs and a bit of epicness/drama are your keywords for success, surely give this a spin.