Review by Bryan on November 16, 2004.

There are those who say women have no place in metal or hard rock music. But, for every naysayer, there is another who swoons over the sounds of estrogen sailing over blast beats and chainsaw guitars.

Leaves' Eyes singer, Liv Kristine, has a voice to melt even the blackest of hearts, and is no stranger to heavy music. She enjoyed many years of success with industrial-metal outfit, Theatre of Tragedy. Now, she's teamed with members of Atrocity and crafted Lovelorn. It's certainly not going to stir up a brutal, boot-to-your-face pit. Much of the music is ethereal, combining orchestrated effects to create cool and haunting lullabies. But it undeniably has a hard edge, blanketed by the soft breaths of Kristine. Her voice serenades this record, and with hardly any effects used, her natural pipes clearly shine above all else. The guitars function at a perfect parallel to the keyboards. Although at times the distortion is a wee bit too high, making the six-stringer sound too synthetic for its own good. This contrasts the natural, worldly feel the rest of the music is striving for.

The title track and "For Amelie" land soft ripples on your eardrums, while other songs like "The Dream" and "Temptation," rattle things around a bit with some great hooks and grooves. There is a smoking guitar solo in the last track, "Return to Life." But where is anything like it in the other songs?

Lovelorn's lyrics paint the picture of a fantasy/love fable, certainly not what those sitting in dark corners, twitching to the sounds of Burzum immediately look for. But, a lot of metal fans (even those in dark corners) have an affinity to this sort of music. Liv Kristine and Lovelorn will seduce you in ways you never knew possible.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 9
Atmosphere: 9
Production: 8
Originality: 9
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.8 out of 10

Review by Joshua on October 6, 2004.

Agathodaimon always disappointed me. They've consistently displayed impressive musicianship on every album. They've written interesting riffs throughout the last eight years. They manage one or two brilliant compositions on every CD. So why, after four full-length studio recordings, can't they make a complete album that doesn't turn out sounding utterly generic?

Perhaps I'm not being fair. This sounds like In Flames quite a bit, as well, particularly Clayman-era, so it's not just ripping off black metal. While a better influence than the last Cradle of Filth CD, the Agathodaimon sound now alternates between interesting, epic black metal, and Swedish death. In a way, that's an improvement; their black metal musicianship is getting better. However, it's interspersed with crap stolen from Dark Tranquility's cutting room floor. The end result is that, much like Chapter III and Higher Art of Rebellion, several songs end up sounding completely contrived.

Mind you, this is not a bad CD. It's not exceptional by any means, but it's well-produced, well played, and has incredible moments. In fact, the last four songs are all an exceptional mixture of epic black metal and Swedish death, the sort of thing that I'd always hoped for from Agathodaimon.

On the other hand, there's the first six. They're consistently terrible. The opener, "Cellos for the Insatiable," is a wretched failure of melodic metal. "Solitude" could induce nausea even in bands such as Dimmu Borgir and Borknagar, and could be a Switchblade Symphony cover if the singer's voice got any more annoying. Unfortunately, that's 60% of the album; by the time listeners reach the album's much-improved conclusion, they're either expecting a completely different, far less enthusiastic playing style, or so annoyed that they've stopped paying any attention to it.

Perhaps, sometime in the distant future, Agathodaimon will develop their own sound, and cease to be one of black metal's countless interchangeable supporting members. Unfotrunately, despite a couple of impressive efforts, Serpent's Embrace isn't there.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 8
Atmosphere: 4
Production: 7
Originality: 3
Overall: 5.5

Rating: 5.5 out of 10