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░ ██ ██ Artist: Mysterious Priestess ██ ██
▓ █░░ ■█ Album: Agency of Fate █■ ░░█
■ █▓▀ █ Year: 2012 █ ▀▓█ ░
█ ▓ Rel. Date: 2017-12-06 ▓ █
▒ ▒ Genre: Death Metal ▒ ▒
█▄ ░ Label: NazoMiko Records ░ ▄█
░ █▄ ░ Source: CD ░ ▄█
░ █▓ Type: Album ▓█ ░
▓ █ Quality: VBR, 44.1kHz, Joint Stereo █ ░ ▓
▓ █ █ ░ ▓
▄ ■ ■ ▓ ■
░█ █░ ▀
█ Mysterious Priestess are a rather unknown and █
█ underappreciated band. They've been relatively low █
█ key with releases in contrast to many of their █
█ peers but nonetheless deliver interesting music. █
█ The debut album, Agency of Fate, is primarily a █
█ melodeath album, but the band shows a lot of █
█ progressive flourishes that they would develop █
█ later on. █
█ Swear Vengeance Against The God starts off the █
█ album on a bit of a worrying note. Not because of █
█ the music, but rather because of the production. █
█ It's really muddy and basically demo-tier. For █
█ whatever reason, only this track is produced this █
█ way, and from Summon The Guardian Angel onwards, █
█ everything gets much cleaner. These two tracks are █
█ fast-paced, melodeath, but there's quite a few █
█ progressive moments. You can find a few █
█ transitions and tempo changes that are rather █
█ progressive in nature. Summon The Guardian Angel █
█ carries an atypical song structure and also has a █
█ few time signature changes making it essentially █
█ progressive melodeath. The bass is also very █
█ reminiscent of progressive bands in its █
█ audibility, and the way it weaves its own path. █
█ Kei Koganemaru, the lead guitarist and vocalist, █
█ is the main brain behind the band and writes the █
█ songs. His vocals are mostly a midranged snarl █
█ that isn't anything terribly inspiring, but it █
█ gets the job done. █
█ Things really pick up when Amaterasu rolls in. █
█ After the opening riff that reminds me of Pirates █
█ of the Caribbean or something goofy like that, the █
█ verse surprisingly transitions to a jazzy section █
█ with excellent basswork from Yusuke Sugiyama, █
█ jazzy drumming from Yohei Jimbo, and Kei's █
█ distorted snarling. The jazz breakdown is well █
█ incorporated into the song and fits the overall █
█ uplifting mood. The solo section is also excellent █
█ with a very nice piano break and guitar solo. This █
█ song shows pretty nice attention to detail and █
█ foreshadows the band's future direction. █
█ Not surprisingly, the most progressive work on █
█ here is the longest track, Seven Moons. It opens █
█ up with a sort of cheesy but interesting █
█ oddly-timed melody from a casio keyboard or █
█ something. Even though the song does use some █
█ pretty traditional tremolo picking, it's placed in █
█ a complicated rhythmic backing. There are many █
█ different sections that utilize more complicated █
█ playing, and the melody from the keyboard persists █
█ throughout the whole song. █
█ Afterwards, the album does shift into a more █
█ aggressive and slightly more straightforward gear █
█ for the next couple of tracks. Of course, there's █
█ still technical prowess with nice leads, solos and █
█ riffage, but its generally a more straightforward, █
█ melodeath approach. The excellent closer, Eternal █
█ Calmness, opens up with a progressive riff and █
█ flaunts the band's experimental side much more. In █
█ general, Agency of Fate does feel a bit like an █
█ amateur album from an underground band, but █
█ there's quite obviously a ton of potential here. █
█ It's a very enjoyable album, but I enjoy the more █
█ progressive moments the most. Hindsight is 20/20, █
█ so I suppose this assessment is fundamentally █
█ unfair due to my familiarity with their second █
█ album. Don't get me wrong, Agency of Fate is █
█ great, but their second album would shift █
█ directions to a sound I like a whole lot more and █
█ sort of retroactively makes the debut a tad █
█ weaker. But at the end of the day, this album has █
█ a ton of great music on it, and that's all that █
█ really matters. █
▓ ▓
▒ ▒
░ 1. Intro 1:57 ░
░ 2. Swear Vengeance Against the God 3:13 ░
░ 3. Summon the Guardian Angel 5:49 ░
░ 4. AMATERASU 4:34 ░
░ 5. Seven Moons 6:52 ░
░ 6. Victors in a Battle 5:42 ░
░ 7. Wintermute 3:50 ░
░ 8. Eternal Calmness 6:36 ░
░ 38:33 ░
░ ▒ ▒
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