French guitar virtuoso Stephan Forté is finally back with a new Adagio album. Since the release of the impressive debut album “Sanctus Ignis”, almost three full years went by without any remarkable news from the band except for the departure of keyboard player Richard Andersson - founding member of Time Requiem, formerly Majestic - that was announced last year. No wonder expectations were high.
The story you’ve probably heard and read about Forté’s musical and mental changes – it is said that the search for his deep self mentally pulled him down for a year – has seemingly not had much influence on his songwriting, as “Underworld” is a quite logical follow-up to “Sanctus Ignis”. The album is definitely much darker than its predecessor, which would be due to his newly found interest in more extreme metal bands. Dimmu Borgir’s “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” is said to have had a major influence on the Forté’s songwriting, which explains the use of grunts on “From My Sleep… To Someone Else” and “The Mirror Stage”, courtesy of Anorexia Nervosa frontman RMS Hreidmarr.
On the other hand, classical influences are even more prominent on “Underworld” than on the debut. The addition of classically trained keyboard player Kevin Codfert to the line up will undoubtedly have had a hand in that, but the album features a real choir and ditto orchestra as well. Despite financial shortcomings, Forté could count on the services of the Ensemble Vocal De Lyon and the Avignon symphony orchestra, who added extra depth to the already rich sound of Adagio.
The only criticism I can think of is that there’s not much diversity to be found from song to song, but that’s a chronic disease of the neo-classical genre I guess. A genre of which Adagio certainly is one of the leading bands, alongside Symphony X, Time Requiem and others. Highly recommended for those who can’t get enough of guitar and keyboards virtuosity! (
SL)
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Modulator
Very good album! My only complain is that in some part "Underground" become little boring. Everyone who loves progressive metal (Symphony X specially) with huge piano role should give chance to this release.
Progrock
One of the best progressive bands out there. I put them before Shadow gallery and Symphony x. The singer is just amazing not to mention the rest of the band. Just GREAT
rodrigo666
Great album, and I agree completely with VaDeR commentary "quoteThe only criticism I can think of is that there’s not much diversity to be found from song to song, but that’s a chronic disease of the neo-classical genre I guess./quote
Well, I think this is a typical thing to say when youre not into a type of music.
I always say that AOR does not have much diversity.
It all depends on how much youre into a genre of music;)"
Emokid
simply brillant.... you never hear enough of that powerfull classical piano on metal acts... get it now !
SL
I certainly am into neo-classical stuff, Vader. Last year's Time Requiem debut was in my personal top 10 of the year for instance. But in my opinion that album had much more diversity than "Underworld". Maybe it's just me, but I was more impressed by "Sanctus Ignis" three years ago than I am now. Still... 4 stars is not bad, ain't it? ;)
VaDeR
quoteThe only criticism I can think of is that there’s not much diversity to be found from song to song, but that’s a chronic disease of the neo-classical genre I guess./quote
Well, I think this is a typical thing to say when youre not into a type of music.
I always say that AOR does not have much diversity.
It all depends on how much youre into a genre of music;)
I personally looooove this one, and believe me, It's worth your money:)
Go go go go grab it;)
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