The Course of Empire (Album)
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| Studio album from Atlantean Codex | ||||
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Publication |
13th September 2019 |
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| Label (s) | Ván Records | |||
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running time |
62 min 34 s |
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Atlantean Code |
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The Course of Empire is the third studio album by the German heavy / doom metal band Atlantean Kodex . It was released on September 13, 2019 via Ván Records .
Emergence
According to singer Markus Becker, not much happened in the first three years after the release of the previous album The White Goddess . Only then did work on a new album begin, which, according to Becker, was slow and slow at first. It wasn't until the beginning of 2018 that the first songs were finished that the work progressed faster. At the same time, according to Manuel Trummer, an incredible number of things have happened in recent years that were more important than music such as births, illnesses, relocations, job changes or deaths. In addition, the band had to give up their own studio, in which some songs from the new album have already been recorded. According to Manuel Trummer, the band was about to break up at this point.
Sven Dinninghoff from Ván Records then encouraged the band to keep going. The album was recorded in the band's own studio and was also produced by the band. In May 2019 the band announced the friendly separation from guitarist Michael Koch. Koch had been suffering from severe joint pain for a long time and was only able to perform some concerts after taking strong painkillers . Koch's successor was Coralie Baier from the band Antipeewee . Since the album was almost completely recorded when she joined the band, Baier can only hear one guitar solo. The album cover was designed by Mariusz Lewandowski. Jeff Black from the band Gatekeeper contributed a guitar solo for the song People of the Moon (Dawn of Creation) . The outro Die Welt von Gestern (Occident) was spoken by Saša Stanišić and contains excerpts from his work Before the Festival .
background
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According to Manuel Trummer, the album was originally supposed to be called Abendland . The texts should show how Europe came into being through ongoing disputes with the Orient and Asia . This should include examples such as philosophy , medicine , literature , architecture and Christianity . After a short time, Trummer realized that the texts deal more with the rise and fall of civilizations . In addition, Trummer feared that a title like Abendland could have been politically appropriated.
"Sometimes you actually have the impression that you have to protect your art from all this adolescent ideological appropriation and the uneducated furor."
Only the songs Lion of Chaldea (The Heroes Journey) and A Secret Byzantinum (Numbered as Sand and the Stars) deal with the originally planned topic. The album title The Course of Empire refers to the series of pictures of the same name by the American painter Thomas Cole , who describes the development of civilizations from foundation to fall in five pictures. The band originally considered using one of the five images in the series for the album cover. However, according to Manuel Trummer, each individual picture would only represent a section of the story. In addition, Thomas Cole's pictures had already been used by the band Candlemass .
The intro The Alpha and the Occident (Rising from Atlantean Tombs) is dedicated to Mark Shelton, the singer of the band Manilla Road who died in 2018 . People of the Moon (Dawn of Creation) was inspired by the Bran Mak Morn stories by the writer Robert E. Howard , which deal with a Stone Age , European indigenous population. Lion of Chaldea (The Heroes Journey) refers to the Ethiopian Book of Enoch and is about the emergence of the first civilizations. Chariots (Descending from Zagros) deals with the subject of war .
“The chariots have been rolling for thousands of years. War has been a constant in history since people have and want to own things. "
The song A Secret Byzantinum (Numbered as Sand and the Stars) was inspired by the books Secret Europe and Inner Europe by Mark Valentine and John Howard . The authors create a picture of a common European culture that scholars keep in secrecy. He Who Walks Behind the Years (Place of Sounding Drums) deals with spirituality , the search for home and being an outsider. Spell of the Western Sea (Among Wolves and Thieves) was inspired by the poets Friedrich Hölderlin and Georg Trakl .
reception
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The German magazine Deaf Forever voted The Course of Empire the best album of the issue. Michael Kohsiek described the work as an "overwhelming album that rams all metallic competition straight into the ground". The band used the long break since the last album "perfectly to write pieces that will function as a blueprint for an entire genre for years to come". Kohsiek awarded the highest grade with ten out of ten points. Jens Peters from the German magazine Rock Hard also awarded ten out of ten points. The songs "not only inspire with complex, sophisticated composition, rousing melodies and a love for detail, but also - in a positive sense - have a wonderfully anachronistic effect ". The album "would be breathtakingly beautiful, unbelievably rousing and moving beyond measure".
Colin Büttner from the online magazine Metal.de wrote that the new album would be “a good record” that “the fan base can blindly touch”. However, “the compelling melodies that made up the two predecessors would only be marginally available this year”. It would leave "a somewhat bland aftertaste, and you have the feeling that the code has got to work a little too ambitiously". Büttner awarded eight out of ten points.
The Course of Empire entered the German album charts at number 49.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Götz Kühnemund : Interview with singer Markus Becker. In: Deaf Forever , number 31, pages 19-23
- ↑ a b c d e f g Michael Kohsiek: Proud regression . In: Deaf Forever, number 31, pages 14-18
- ↑ Alexandra Michels: ATLANTEAN KODEX - separation from Michael Koch. Rock Hard , accessed August 22, 2019 .
- ↑ Jens Peters: A poetic world . In: Rock Hard, October 2019, page 28
- ^ Atlantean Codex. GfK Entertainment , accessed on September 27, 2019 .
- ↑ Michael Kohsiek: Atlantean Codex - The Course of Empire . In: Deaf Forever, number 31, page 86
- ^ Jens Peters - Atlantean Codex - The Course of Empire . In: Rock Hard, October 2019, page 90
- ^ Colin Büttner: Atlantean Codex - The Course of Empire. Metal.de, accessed on September 9, 2019 .