Dionysus's Reviews
Anima Mundi (Average Rating: 7.34 out of 10)
Poisoning Dionysus (Rated this album with 4 out of 10)
Reviewed by
John. N
from Pittsburgh, PA USA
After Dionysus' awesome debut in the form of 2002's "Sign of Truth" (which me and my friend listened to for months and months on end), I was looking forward to this release quite eagerly, especially after hearing the sound clip of the title track "Anima Mundi" that was available on the band's website. Unfortunately, most of the final product was far from what I was expecting in the end.Starting with more positive notes, singer Olaf Hayer's voice has definitely improved and his voice is now used in different varying styles (check out his rougher, edgy sounding voice in Divine - awesome!) This release is also more varied idea wise and musically than their debut was (and I honestly commend that), but is why I think maybe I'm having such difficulty liking this album more than I currently do. Another reason I may feel this way is this album contains more slower and mid-tempo songs, and though Dionysus isn't a pure speed metal band, maybe I think that subconsciously due the amount of faster songs that appeared on the debut (even though I do like my share of slow and mid-tempo songs, mind you!) The above is only reinforced by the fact the only songs I personally found I liked were Anima Mundi, Closer to the Sun, and Divine - all the fast ones. I found the slower songs, such as Bringer of War (co-written by Hammerfall's singer Joacim Cans) and the supposedly "hymn-like" March for Freedom extremely boring and repetitive. The ballad-like songs What? and My Heart is Crying were some of the worst written ballads I have heard in recent metal release history (unlike the ballad Don't Forget off of Sign of Truth - which is freaking great!) To top this off, the band revived the song "Paradise Land" - the worst song off their 2001 demo - as the closing track - yuck! In the end, this isn't horrible CD - but it isn't near good enough to what I consider I "must buy" metal release like Sign of Truth was. Fans of this genre and are interested in Dionysus should really buy the debut before buying this - you'll be doing yourself a grave injustice by doing so.
Buy this album on Amazon at $15.99
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