Archonaut is a new talented and very promising band from Essen Germany, which I discovered recently. Their style is a rather easy going and listener-friendly Prog-Metal, and maybe that is the reason I liked them from the start. (Because I'm not a fan of Prog-Metal in general).
The band consists of 3 members, plus 2 session musicans who participated in the recordings of the album, and will give a helping hand in the live shows I guess.
[The first song I ever listened was the11-minute long 'The cavern of many beings,' which is the album's opening track and one of their best in my opininon. Because I really liked it, I contacted Julian Klotz (guitars), and we arranged to have them as "guests" on the chatbox on Prog & Roll radio show. On Sunday the 22nd of February Julian Klotz (guitar) and Sebastian Maschuw (guitar) logged in unofficially at the time of the show, and we had a friendly chat for almost 2 hours. But officialy they will be "guests" in our next show on the 1st of March. So, if you are interested in meeting them and chat with them, log in on Sunday the 1st of March, at 20.00 UK time.]
It contains 8 songs, plus 1 bonus which is 'The cavern of many beings' in a slightly different version. The whole album has a total running time of almost 55 minutes.
The opening track is (as I mentioned above) the 11-minute long 'The cavern of many beings', which includes nice melodies and strong guitar riffs. Definetely a very good opening!
Second track is 'Drowning man', which is a powerful song, but not as good as the first one.
Furthermore the listener has the chance to enjoy the really magnificent composition named 'Ark'. A 7-minute long song, with an hypnotic low tempo at start, which is changing after a few minutes, and a great finale. Definetely one of the best songs of the album!
With 'Sirens' which comes next the tempo is increased, before it will go down again with the beautiful ballad, 3.5-minute-long 'Promises'.
If I had to pick a song as a 'hit' from this album, I would choose the 6th track 'The last march of the swarm'. Because it is one of the best songs here, and with a running time of 4.40 it can be characterised as "radio friendly". One more powerful song, with some Black Sabbath influences hidden in the background.
The 7th track 'Nautilus' is not a bad one, but it doesn't add something more to the album. (In my opinion at least).
Last song is another very interesting one named 'Souls eclipse'. Once more it has a very slow start, but it changes drastically after a few minutes.
And as I mentioned before, there is also a bonus track, which is the opening song in a slightly different and a bit longer version.
Concluding this post, I should say that I totally recommend 'Duchess' to all those who can enjoy a well structured album, with very good compositions, regardless if they are fans of Prog - Metal or not. As for Jens Kipper who is the singer, I should say he has a very good voice, that matches the band's style perfectly. His English is very good, without the typical German accent we see in some other bands from Germany.
In case you are interested in listening and/or buying this album, here's a few useful links for you:
1. Archonaut's home page: www.archonaut-music.com
2. Here you can listen to the album in medium quality, and buy it in high quality: www.archonaut.bandcamp.com
3. https://soundcloud.com/archonaut-1 Way better streaming quality, but you can buy it via GooglePlay and ITunes.
Also, I should inform you that 'Dutchess' is available on 'Amazon' worldwide.
If I had to rate this album I would give 3 - 3.5 stars our of 5.0
I'm adding also one video here, in order to listen and have a small idea about the band's music style.
I hope you'll find this post interesting and informative.
Thank you for reading...
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