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Symbols
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CHIMERA MUSIC CONCRETEWEB DEAD GARDENS GOTHMETAL LIVE 4 METAL METAL COVENANT METAL STORM MUSIC EXTREME NOIZZ WEBZINE RAW NERVE PROMOTIONS SPIRIT OF METAL TERRORAISER MAGAZINE ZWARE METALEN
CHIMERA MUSICLadies and gentlemen, what we’ve got this time is a black-doom metal record from Czech Republic. The band is called Ador Dorath and this record is the second one they release, one that’s meant lots of positive comments from people and press. Although the band is classified as black-doom, they play music with lots of other sounds. This record proves it; they explored the darkest side of black metal along with gothic and symphonic territories. That variety of sounds is exactly what I liked the most about this record, along with the fact that grunts and classic vocals by singers Ivoš and Lenka are perfectly well combined. And still they are not the only stars on the record, nor the only ones we have to congratulate because of their performance. The whole band is present here, they are all the stars, and they all deserve to be applauded. Opening track, Rosa, proves what I said about the sound and the whole band getting applauds. It’s the first black-metal oriented song but, just like I said before, the song doesn’t get stuck into that sound. It changes a little from its hard beginning until some minutes before its ending when the song becomes a little more melodic without losing its initial strength. Almost in the same line we find V.I.T.R.I.O.L., the one chosen to have a promotional video which we hope to see very soon. Just like the last track, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is musically delicious. Totally dark, powerful and not lineal, so you’ll never feel tired of listening to it. Third song is my absolute and maximum highlight. The one called Earth which possesses some awesome changes of sound along with a splendid melody. One of my favorite parts is when the keyboards are heard on the background while Lenka sings “come down to me, I am the earth, death’s my seed” (please, check out the awesome lyrics of this song). Next track, River, has a slow beginning sung by Lenka while piano and violin sound in the background. Then Ivoš makes his triunfal entrance along with the rest of the band members, which means the song gets gradually heavier and stronger. This wonderful record wouldn’t be complete without a balad, so here it is, the first and only balad on Symbols, and it’s called Desert. Lenka sings all the lyrics on this song, which, unlike some ballads, it’s not boring at all. Actually it’s another highlight on the album, totally beautiful with poetic lyrics. Mountain is a light return to a heavier musical side. Fortunately it seems like the band didn’t think of placing a too heavy song after the slow last track, which to me was a perfect decision. From this point on we can feel the record slowly goes back to its heaviest sound. As for Mountain, this one is probably the most mystic and mysterious song on the record. It also has wonderful lyrics, so please don’t forget to listen carefully to what it’s sung in this song. Now it’s when we get the heavyness back with the 7th track, Balance. The sound will get all your attention since the first second of the song. Here we hear Lenka singing those classical opera choirs that are always present in gothic metal bands. Applauds for her! She shows us how amazing her voice can be without trying to impress too much. If the lyrics feel a bit different from this song on, it’s because the lyrics for the last 3 tracks were written by Ivoš, unlike the first 6 that were written by Lenka. Just like I said, this CD gets heavier and heavier, especially in these last 2 sung tracks. First we have Limits, a bit similar to Balance. This time Lenka uses her voice mostly for making choirs, and Ivoš is the one who sings nearly all the lyrics. It’s a few seconds before the ending of the song when Lenka sings some lyrics as the song fades out to allow the 9th song entitled Nine to start. Nine is heavier than the last two tracks, and after a while of wonderful and powerful musical performance, the song reaches its end just with Lenka’s smile, which works as an introduction for an instrumental song called Islands, a very relaxing tune with some birds sounds in the background, the perfect and glorious closing act for an amazing piece of art. There's no doubt that Symbols is a very good record which seems to have been worked very carefully. Not a single detail seems to have been done without paying special attention. Arrangements, lyrics and vocals are perfectly worked without the need to force any of the members to give more than what they can give. They sound impressing without exaggerating. This is for sure one of the best metal records I’ve heard so far, full of variety which makes it not boring. A “must” for every metal fan. publishing date: 15.08.2006 author: Silent Raven CONCRETEWEBI did really like Ador Dorath’s former album, “Adon Nin Edeleth Ador Dorath” (2003), a lot, even though I thought this Czech formation was still looking, in a way, for an own face. The new album “Symbols” was partly recorded in their home country, partly in Poland (after the sad decease of Martin Grandi è ) and has duration of 43 minutes. Like the former album, this one stands for a progressive combination of Black and Gothic Metal with elements from Folk, Death Metal and Doom. Opener “Rosa” brings a mixture of up-tempo Black Metal with somewhat Dimmu Borgir / Gehenna-alike keyboards, and atmospheric yet intense Gothic Metal, combining raw, rough grunts (Ivos Dosedel) and classic-skilled female vocals (Lenka Machova) with a ‘heavenly voices’-approach. The song, and this goes for every single track on this album, is interspersed with many tempo- and melody-changes and contains influences from Pagan / Folk. “Vitriol” is an intense, obscure and blackened Dark Metal track with, again, those female vocals, violoncello and a few atmospheric keyboard lines, indeed again bringing that certain Goth-inspired touch into the Pagan Metal music. And it goes on like that … The music is mostly intense, oppressing and pretty heavy with many tempo-changes (varying from slow over mid-tempo to pretty fast from time to time), varying vocals (screams, grunts and classical female vocals), ‘native’ influences (instruments and melodies), elements from different (dark) musical styles, a progressive touch of modernism, and so on. A few songs have a more electronic-based (like “Mountain”) approach, while others are more Solefald-ish than before. And I have to admit that the band now seems to have found its own face, more than on the debut. I mean that there’s more cohesion than before, and this goes for both the individual songs as the whole album. This benefits the whole, doesn’t it? Anyway, nice second full length! publishing date: 25.02.2006 author: Ivan Tibos rating: 85/100 DEAD GARDENSBNow a days is really hard to find true metal bands, and it seems to be popular to have a lady singing, most of the times the sound of those bands are boring and predictable, but here we have Ador Dorath, they did what many bands want, make the perfect mix between metal and classical singing, but if you think you’ll hear regular rhythms with some girl singing, you’re wrong!, since the first world to the last sound, this record will make you believe in good music again. Now we can see Ador Dorath have the secret to be an excellent band, the Record “Symbols” gives us 9 songs to enjoy (without counting the extra song “Island”), Themes full of energy, songs that will make you headband, but also songs that will make you sit and read the lyrics over and over again, finding beauty even in things like pain and leaving the one you love the most. The record opens with “Rosa” the perfect introduction for what it comes, Full of guttural voices and adorable soprano complements, so, the band is not just another front woman band, you’ll hear and feel the work of a team, friends, what it supposed to be a band. In the masterpiece “Symbols” can’t be the great record without the ballad, that’s when we find “Desert”, completely beautiful, deep, one of the best songs of the record. In general, Symbols take to a land far away, where mystical creatures exist, and where you can follow you heart to the end of the world, an album which worth the listening, a band that you’ll be glad to hear in this time full of not so good music. Even here we mention some songs is difficult to say what song makes this record amazing, every single one has something special, something that’ll call your soul to seek the answers human haven’t find yet. publishing date: 01.08.2006 author: Dafne Fierro rating: 5/6 GOTHMETALAbout half a year ago I reviewed the first record of the Czech formation Ador Dorath which was released in 2002. Now that I was to review their latest record called Symbols I was wondering what kind of changes were made in the time between them. To start up with good news, the band really improved since my last review (which you can read here) altogether. I encourage everyone who doesn´t know this band to read it first as the general sound remained basically unchanged from that one, so I will not go into it further in this review but concentrate on the differences rather. First of, the sound is clearer, not as washy as before while they kept up their general style from the first record. Another plus is the fact they got more innovative. They vary their songs far more, without getting too experimental. "Regular" Black Metal structures are on the record as well as slower songs or more synth-oriented ones (the bonus song Island deserves special mentioning here, it´s a great outro). It makes a much more complete picture than their first work. While the beginning two songs made me believe i was listening to basically the same kind of record as the first one I was proven different quickly after. Also they don´t make the mistake of many bands to stretch the songs unneccessarily without adding anything to it as the songs feel dynamic through their whole length. While this comes at the price of a slightly short playing time (43 minutes including bonus song) I still prefer it over repetitive boring songs which you hear too often. Where there´s light there is shadow as well and this record surely is no exception. Although it´s a big step forward it still has some flaws. Something I noticed in a few songs is that the female vocalist occasionally comes with a heavy accent. While this might be interesting for some I personally don´t like it too much as you should either practice the pronounciation of what you are about to sing or stick to your mother language (and who could forget great word creations like Tarja´s "nightwiss" in the original Astral Romance song). Another thing is, as in the previous record, that you heard a lot of this before. While they throw in some innovative elements the bigger part of it all stays rather common. This is not necessarily bad, yet it makes a decision to listen to them instead of band XY not easier. Still it´s good to see there are capable artists caring about the future of Black Metal and this record is surely an improvement and shows Ador Dorath indeed have potential (as I anticipated in my last review). If you like Black Metal and look for some rather new group don´t hesitate to take this one. In the end they might just have that little tweak in the sound you always missed with others. publishing date: 02.01.2006 author: Nitewolf rating: 8,5/10 LIVE 4 METALWow (it always looks good for a band when that is the 1st word of a review and this is no exception), I just love it when something comes from out of nowhere and just blows me away. I had never heard of this band from the Czech Republic or the little home-grown label that it arrived on but everything about this release is pretty much perfect and I know that Symbols is one of those albums that is going to be glued on play for some time to come. Aesthetically this is beautiful with a really neat and lavish linen cloth type effect booklet designed in eye catching red, white and black. A hell of a lot of care has obviously gone into this and the sharp crisp production on the 43 minute 2nd release from Ador Dorath does not let it down in the slightest. Musically in a nutshell (and a very lazy one that I will expound on as we progress) imagine an amalgamation of Dimmu Borgir and Within Temptation and think of the potential such a marriage has to take the metal world by storm if it were backed up by good songs. Well it does have 10 rip roaring numbers here and as far as I am concerned they are good enough to have the bigger labels soiling themselves in a bidding war to snap the band up. With my comparison you would be spot on assuming that there is both a male and female vocalist in Ador Dorath and yes the female Lenka Machová is classical trained. However what makes Ador Dorath stick out from the clichéd crowd is that neither singer is forced upon us as the centre of attention, both share the vocals equally enforcing the fact that there are 2 singers rather than an obvious lead. Rosa blooms and blossoms in with a wild instrumental romp that can only be described as melodic black metal reminiscent of the likes of Old Mans Child and Axamenta. Ivoš Dosedìl is quick to enter the fray with a good old Shagrasp about his vocals and it catches you by surprise when the sweet birdsong vocals of Lenka suddenly clamour out the speakers adding a bittersweet melody. Add to this the fact that there is a folk laden edge in the backdrop with a violincello adding a dash of romance and some racy keyboard work and you have a sure fire winner. Trollish accordion cuts a jig around the central structure of Vitriol with a soothing Gypsy etched violin passage and vocal swoon that would give Sharon den Adel a run for her money. Without a pause we literally flow headlong into Earth which whilst dashing your brains into the ground has some breathtakingly sweet Soprano vocals wrapping their arms around you. Industrial and angry, Mountain reminds me of Samael era passage due to the militant vocal delivery of Ivoš with sinister whispers and sultry spoken passages from Lenka in the backdrop. Nexus Polaris era Covenant springs to mind on the astral cavalcade of Balance a spacey expansive number that is way out there at the edge of beyond. Apart from the album finishing with the sound of a cock crowing we have a moody instrumental Bonus Island which to me sounds dead similar to the hidden end track on new Moonspell album Memorial. One things certain if you like your metal extreme and so well polished it shines, Signs is an absolute must have. publishing date: 12.05.2006 author: Pete Woods METAL COVENANTAdor Dorath, the seven piece army from Czech Republic, are perhaps the only band I know of that have absorbed the good influences from Cradle Of Filth's early stages. Listening to this Czech band is sometimes like taking a journey back to the Principle Of Evil Made Flesh era. Add to this mighty female vocals from the eminent voice of Lenka Machova and some serious work of art on cello by Krystian Danel. When I heard the band for the first time after the release of the 2002´s Adon Nin Edeleth album I recall that the music was quite influenced by the british mentioned band, and I think that it's still the best reference to their music even though they seem to have carved their own identity deep into this symbol. Symbols is their second album in full-length format. The difference between this album and the debut is mainly spelled aggression. Symbols seems to be a creation with more sharpened teeth than Adon Nin Edeleth had. The music is still very atmospheric, and it sometimes feels unreal, like you are trapped in a dream. A bizarre nightmare with some industrial elements as can be heard on the Moungain, a quite dark epos that as well could be a work from Samael these days. The voices from Ivos Dosedel and Lenka Machova work very fine together, where the voice of Ivos stands for the darker and aggressive elements in the sound picture and Lenka Machovas best can be described as a more interesting form of Tarja (ex-Nightwish). Good composing and great individual skills, the only problem I have with this recording is that it tends to be a bit too much and too high parts on the keyboard lines. All in all I get a very positive feeling from this album, not a monumental work of art but still it has something great and weird in its sound, like the Nin.E, a very complex and almost schizophrenic song which represents this album quite well I guess. Even though I am strictly against keyboards in this world I must say that on this album it works just fine mainly because of the recommended songs that have some real killer melodies and can easily be recommended to those of you who are into the work of early Cradle of Filth, Tristania and the later from Samael. publishing date: 22.12.2005 author: Tim rating: 7/10 METAL STORMWhen I received the second album of Ador Dorath, Symbols, the promo sheet stated in a victorious tone that it had won the award of the best metal release (apparently all genres included) granted by the Czech metal press in 2005. Knowing how the awards system work here, I expected to hear, you know, some kind of Within Temptation or Lacuna Coil rip off, in other words uninteresting and uninspired music made for the masses by young people jumping on the bandwagon. Praise the Czech for not being the French! What I got instead is this intense and talented album of… I don't know, weird gothic black metal. Or at least weird extreme gothic metal. You got it, the main word here is weird. Yes, this record is original. To describe it more easily, you'll forgive me for using band comparisons, but detailing every song would be a real hassle. Every single track on this album having its own identity, its own features, its own universe, it is almost impossible to generalize a definition. All that can be said for sure it that this album is dark. The rest is uncertain. From the full-blown black metal attacks of "Rosa", to the trance/ambient instrumental "Island", from the avant-garde keys of "V.I.T.R.I.OL." to the electro sounds of "Mountains", the soundscapes are as diverse as can be. Yet Symbols flows as one, driven by the intensity and the aggressiveness of the music as well as, maybe, by the nature-themed lyrics. The album is unique in its own way, but it doesn't lack the unity you too often look for in that type of release. Now, to make things simple, imagine the background of old (and I mean very old) Cradle Of Filth albums coupled with the romantic yet brutal atmosphere of Triarchy Of The Lost Lovers era Rotting Christ. Now add some Orphanage for the very special vocal lines and the perfect use of dissonant keyboards and a bit of Limbonic Art for the sometimes frantic pace, throw a pinch of death metal for the blastbeats and you get Ador Dorath. Though, none of these influences is obvious when you listen to the album. Nothing will make you say "hey, that sounds like…". The songwriting is that great. Add to this that the musicianship is brilliant, the vocals amazing (especially the female singer who really reminds me of Rosan Van der Aa of Orphanage) and the production worthy of praise, and you get one album that deserves to be known by the whole world. If every award-winning band was that good, I'd become a fan of the Eurovision. publishing date: 30.08.2007 author: Collin rating: 9/10 MUSIC EXTREMEWe reviewed some issues ago the previous Ador Dorath album and now this "Symbols" arrives with pure darkness and a majestic sound. The music is the black metal full of climatic elements and melodic arrangements created with extremely tasteful musicianship and with killer technical skills. Plus, this band is not afraid of using elements from other styles such as death metal in some of the more brutal parts adding more power to their music. The female vocals are amazing and add a melancholic feeling to the music, adding also a lot of beauty to the arrangements, contrasting with the technial yet brutal guitar riffs that the band unleashes. This woman can easily go from whispers to operistic lines without loosing power. The keyboards are another essential element here deliver arrangements and intrincated passages on each of the tunes. A must have for lovers of dark metal and good musicianship. author: Federico NOIZZ WEBZINEIt´s been a big surprise to know this band from the Czech Republic called Ador Dorath. The last work of the band is the ‘Symbols’ album which is a masterpiece of Dark Music. The first thing that fascinated me were the Artwork, using both colours Black and Red and printed in a special paper, which give us a serious impression of the band. Their musical style could be a kind of Black Metal mixed with Gothic elements and Pagan influences. Beautiful and classical female voices meeting dark and brutal male ones that come along with their intense music. There are a lot of different elements in the sound of Ador Dorath with many tempo changes and melodies. Combining melodic and classical parts with furious and heaviest ones. The sound is really good and all the instruments sounds like a dark insane orchestra. “No doubt the truth of symbols, they are the only things man has with which to orient himself in the world”. With this phrase begins the album and its wise revelations. All the songs are covered in black atmospheres that leaves you far away from time and space to see into your own darkness. The lyrics are very interesting, talking about the Nature and the human existentialism. It´s difficult to choose one song of this album cause all the tracks are good compositions. You can try songs like ‘Rosa’ which opens the album with high energy, or ‘Desert’ that brings you classical sounds, ‘Balance’ and its dark melodies, ‘Island’ the beautiful instrumental,... If you like dark music, extreme sounds, atmospheric melodies,... you will enjoy this album for sure! author: Martín Moreno RAW NERVE PROMOTIONSThe artwork and packaging for this release from Czech 6 (+1 guest) piece Ador Dorath is absolutely stunning and breeds the notion of a huge level of professionalism emanating from them before we even start. Musically, think towards the world of black metal, with strains of early Covenant, Dimmu Borgir, Gehenna, and add in operatic female vocals and a general air of theatrics throughout, as well as that special Eastern European spice to the flavour, and the basics are in place. I'm sure some of the vocals will be off putting to some, as opera wailings are not to everyone's liking, including mine generally, but these ones are tastefully done and are backed up by some powerful, masterful music so it all blends together well. Another fine Ador Dorath release. publishing date: 29.07.2006 author:Paul Raw Nerve SPIRIT OF METALFor those who don't know, here is the second album of the czech band Ador Dorath, which plays a particularly seducing atmospheric dark/death. In fact, 'Symbols' is a subtile, racé and elegant album. By distiling delicate vocal melodies and mixing them with the typical agressivity of death metal, the band has knew how to renew and refresh a genre, saturated by a countless number of more or less established bands, as Sirenia, Tristania or After Forever, to quote these bands among many others. The talent of these czech musicians can be heard through the nine songs which compose this record. Come to that, the czech adage "what czech so musician" ("To cech to muzikant") seems to be confirmed on those tracks, which have a huge musical intensity. The sing of Lenka Machova is of rare beauty and the technic level of the musicians is phenomenal. Every title has its own identity, no presence of an unpleasant linearity, no stop : all is so good realised that man has the feeling to float on a cloud. Beyond the "classic" songs, we can also find some more contemporary ones with some samples which are a bit "technoid" and some futuristic keyboards (especially on "Mountain"). There are songs for all the tastes : quick and heavy ("Rosa", "Vitriol") or slower and quiet ("Desert"). I'm not a great fan of this music style, but I must say that Ador Dorath made me an excellent impression and that 'Symbols' is an album which is important to point out as one of the albums of the year on the atmospheric dark metal scene. This cd is superb, in spite of some little youth mistakes, which don't erase all the intrinsic qualities of 'Symbols'. The band has gained a point to travel the european frontiers... publishing date: 26.04.2006 author: Metal Angel rating: 16/20 TERRORAISER MAGAZINEAfter their quite outstanding debut “Adon Nin Edeleth Ador Dorath”, in two years Czech band ADOR DORATH records their second full length CD. This time the title is much more short and comprehensible. Ten “symbols” embodied on the CD are fascinating and keep you tensed during all the run-through of the album. The style has remained - mix of the elements of doom, black and death metal - all this in nearly equal proportions. Vocal duet consisting of soprano Lenka and scream/growl Ivo is still present as well. The record is much better than the previous one, and that means generally more clean sound. If you like extraordinary bands groups, ADOR DORATH is a right choice. publishing date: 28.05.2006 author: Costas Silent rating: 10/10 ZWARE METALENI got to know the Czech Ador Dorath through their debut album “Adon Nin Edeleth Ador Dorath”, which really surprised me a year ago. “Symbols” is a rather logical follow-up to their debut album, maybe even better than its predecessor! “Symbols” is a cd of two beautiful contrasts. First, in the vocals: the fierce, evil screams and growls of the vocalist, slightly different from the vocals on the debut album, versus the beauty and charm of the female vocals. The female vocals have not changed much and still sound in the vein of Tarja Turunen (ex-Nightwish). I am under the impression that her role in the songs has become larger. In the song “Desert”, Lenka sings solo with a calm instrumental support. Because of the rather strong accents, the English sometimes seems to sound like the motherlanguage of the band itself, but the only languages present on the album are English and Latin. Both forms of vocals are combined masterfully in songs with both a brutal black and thrash atmosphere, as well as a strong dose of melody: the second contrast. Fierce riffing is followed by pieces of piano, violin and synth, which also makes the emotion the music brings fluctuate between pure evil and hope and serenity. Those fluctuations don’t sound forced at all: they are exactly in place, indicative of very strong songwriting. My conclusion sounds the same as in my review of the debut album of Ador Dorath: magnificent alternation between extreme metal and beautiful melody, two great vocalists and without a doubt a great future for this band! Next to that, “Symbols” has a very nice three-colored booklet. Regrettably, this cd has arrived too late for my top list of 2005, but it would well have earned a place in my top 3. The only thing I don’t understand is the label “doom metal” the band keeps on carrying with it; I don’t hear anything coming near doom metal on both albums of Ador Dorath! I would call it symphonic black metal and anyone into that genre should give Ador Dorath the attention it deserves! publishing date: 15.01.2006 author: Mark Leenen rating: 89/100 |
