Ornaments Of Agony
Reconcile (CD Demo) 2003 No label
Doom metal from Mongolia! And you thought that such thing was not possible? But nothing seems impossible any more in this age of internet and globalization, so I hold here in my hands the demo of the first metal band (actually first band at all) I ever heard from the country of countless steppes and Genghis Khan. Although the prospects of this unusual and exotic encounter were very exciting, nevertheless I was let down by the content of this album as it is, I’m sad to say, the worse demo I ever got for review at doom-metal.com. Albin, the individual behind the project, may perform according to the inlay booklet 'vocals, strings, keyboards and percussion' but unfortunately he doesn't master any of those. The vocals sound like something between a baby with Down syndrome and a constipated Niko Sirkia, the 'strings' are nothing more than ad random notes played on the electric guitar without any sense of timing and cohesion, the keyboards in the last track are the only acceptable (though far from brilliant) element in the whole demo, while the 'percussion' consists of a quite laughable clicking noise which sounds like a metronome (although it doesn't seem to help Albin to get his timing straight). Under these circumstances, it is impossible to write a constructive review. Nevertheless I hope that Albin learns to play the guitar, finds some other musicians and comes up with more acceptable output, because I must admit that I quite like the idea of Mongolian 'steppe doom'. Band contact: agonic_albin@hotmail.com	1. On evenings 2. Reconcile 3. Windowsill Approx. 20 minutes
Reviewed by: Kostas Panagiotou