Argus - Boldly Stride The Doomed - review
Argus - Boldly Stride The Doomed - review
Tracklist
01. Abandoning The Gates Of Byzantium02. A Curse On The World
03. Wolves Of Dusk
04. The Ladder
05. Durendal
06. 42-7-29
07. Boldly Stride The Doomed
08. Fading Silver Light
09. Pieces Of Your Smile
10. The Ruins Of Ouroboros
A review by
Daniell July 20, 2011
Argus gives me what I need. These guys seem to be taken straight out of somehwere between 1975 and 1983. When "A Curse on the World" kicks in, I feel like I'm listening to Iron Maiden's Killers. Similar riffing, tempo, overall atmosphere. The production, obviously, is much better, but the impression of being taken back in time is very strong. Pure heavy metal is what I call it. Fantastic melodies, great, clear and melodic solos, excellent vocals, a bit of pathos, but far from kitsch.
Of course, it would be nothing more that a copycat album if all numbers sounded like Iron Maiden. Fortunately, there's a lot of variety here. From fairly uptempo classic heavy metal of "A Curse on the World" and "Wolves of Dusk", through "42-7-29" which sounds like early Candlemass worship, and slightly doomy "Durendal", to pure epic doom of "The Ladder" and "Pieces of Your Smile", this album shines with variety, inventiveness and unadulterated enthusiasm. "Pieces of Your Smile" deserves a separate mention. Not only is it the longest track on Boldly Stride the Doomed, it's also an utterly brilliant song that overwhelms the listener with atmosphere, enchants him with beautiful melodies and captivates him with inspired guitar solos. 12 minutes pass like 12 seconds, and you will immediately want to re-listen to the song in order to hear all that greatness over and over again. I know I did, six times in a row.
So without further ado, I advise you, dear reader, to get this album and dive into its old-school coolness. If you're old enough, you might experience the best retro ride this year. If you're younger, you might just be able to understand the feelings that we, old codgers, had when the metal world was young, decades ago.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 8 |
| Originality: | 7 |
| Production: | 8 |
Comments
Comments:
9
Visited by
253 users
 Posts: 40071 |
Posts: 40071
Great album this. A perfect mix of heavy metal and doom plus the vocals of Butch are brilliant once again.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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 Posts: 3099 |
Posts: 3099
As that heavy/doom blend is one of my favourite sub-genres I found this album more than enjoyable! Your excellent review does it justice. In this sort of metal I don't think anything will beat DoomSword's latest in 2011 though.
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Posts: 247  |
Posts: 247
Good review - Argus is a top band for sure. I don't think of this as retro a all though.
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Posts: 6213 Written by Jan on 21.07.2011 at 07:17 It definitely doesn't sound retro at all, but it does bear a lot of similarities to 70's-80's metal.
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| Lokaeda
Account deleted |
Lokaeda
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If you like that kind of band, give DoomSword, Grand Magus, Pagan Altar and Dark Forest [UK] a try 
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| Posts: 6213 |
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Posts: 6
I have only heard of "There's a Curse on the World" and I must say I'm impressed. Too bad I cannot buy the album because of my priorities.
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 Posts: 99 |
Posts: 99
I really enjoyed this album, very sincere, with a realistic sound that give to the music a retro atmosphere, beautiful and diverse heavy-doom melodies and riffs, entwined with a powerfull voice. Good bands are almost always underrated.
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