Band:	Agodea
Album:	Of Stars And Madmen
Style:	Melodic death metal
Release date:	February 05, 2020
A review by:	nikarg

01. Aeas
02. Through The Curse Through The Blessing
03. Of Stars And Madmen
04. As Atlas Crumbles
05. On A Bed Of Leaves
06. Hymn To A Night's Storm

Melodic death metal is probably the last style I would expect to listen from a Greek band, but never say never.

Agodea (Αγωδία, from the words άγος and ωδή) formed in Athens in July of 2017. The polytonic orthography of the ancient Greek language allowed for two opposite meanings so that ἅγος meant honour or dignity and ἄγος referred to miasma, a curse or something worthy of punishment by the gods' wrath. The word ὠδή is easier to guess, it unsurprisingly means 'ode'. With this brief lesson on linguistics and etymology out of the way, we can now move on to the music of Agodea.

Of Stars And Madmen features six songs, four completely new ones and two that first appeared on the band's self-titled demo in 2017. It is a very concise record that clocks in at under 34 minutes and it sounds raw, loose, and rough around the edges taking into account the style it belongs in. While the influence of the Gothenburg school is clearly there, Agodea have plenty of Iron Maiden-esque lead guitar melodies, technical passages reminiscing of post-Human Death, and there are also elements of classical music and Greek traditional music. The bass is audible and very satisfying, but the emphasis is on the guitars which have no problem spurting riffs that switch effortlessly from speedy and blistering to medieval and epic.

Agodea are apparently looking for a vocalist/frontman. I have no idea why, since Christos Fougeris (who also handles one of the two guitars and has written all music and lyrics) has a very fitting timbre for this sort of music; it is harsh but without any -core or brutal character and it is fairly easy to decipher the lyrics he sings. These revolve around themes of history, mythology and the course of man from an existential point of view.

What I like most about Agodea's music is that it lacks the cheese often encountered in supersized quantities in melodeath, and the fairly gritty and low budget sound (the guitars and the bass were recorded at home) also helps the album to not sound like pizza-death at all. Think of Arghoslent but without the nazi crap of course. Don't be misled by my score, this is one of the best melodic death metal records I've listened to so far this year and, had it been released in the '90s, I would have rated it higher. If you consider Lunar Strain to be the best In Flames album like I do, check this debut out right now.

"The great challenge for titan and man
How long can his jaded knees withstand
The weight of infinity and all that he spawned
With no promise or relief, no awaiting beyond"