DIABULUS IN MUSICA — Argia (review)

Album · 2014 · Symphonic Metal

3.5/5 · 2014-04-25
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Argia (2014) is the third full-length album by Spanish symphonic metal act Diabulus in Musica. Since the release of The Wanderer (2012) the line-up of the band has largely changed with only lead vocalist Zuberoa Aznárez and keyboardist/harsh vocalist Gorka Elso appearing on both albums. Like with The Wanderer Argia features some guests vocalists, namely Ailyn (Sirenia) and Thomas Vikström (Therion).

Although The Wanderer did not impress me to the same level as other bigger name acts in the symphonic metal genre that Diabulus in Musica can be compared to (Epica have always come to mind when I listen to their music), it certainly showed the band to have a lot of promise in regard to becoming one of the major players of this style. Their symphonic metal showed off an unusual level of variation, including not only the usual suspects of gothic and power metal elements but also some more melodic death metal orientated work, allowing the then double team of growling vocalists to take the lead from Aznárez and the album also had a pure folk song. Expectations for the album's follow-up therefore were riding high on where Diabulus in Musica may take the genre next.

Unfortunately the end result of Argia is a step backwards for Diabulus in Musica. As far as symphonic metal goes it is a solid album, but it's much less remarkable in terms of the elements going into it than The Wanderer. The most obvious additional element is power metal and the band produce some excellent music when playing this way as in Furia de Libertad but it seems that they either cut down on or completely got rid of everything else that The Wanderer had, and they haven't really compensated by exploring any fresh territory. From the Embers has some surprising riffs which put me in mind of thrash metal but that really is about it. There is still a folksy presence as in Maitagarri though, in fact it's probably the one element that has been explored a bit more this time. The use of growls have also been cut down somewhat so I wouldn't really say that there is any sort of a death metal element this time around, not more than the average beauty and the beast vocal team act have anyway, and there are actually a lot of songs where growls aren't featured at all. I don't so much have a problem with that though, as Zuberoa Aznárez is an excellent singer, but overall Argia does come over as somewhat more bland and generic than its predecessor.

There's also something of a repetition issue on Argia, in that it tends to follow similar patterns to The Wanderer, like in the first three tracks where both albums use a pattern of prolonged intro, beauty and the beast style track, and then electronic influenced catchy track that just happens to be the lead promo track from the release. Inner Force sounds a bit too close to The Wanderer's Sceneries of Hope for comfort, especially in that electronic intro. I actually revisited The Wanderer prior to writing this review for Argia and even had to check I hadn't put the wrong album on in my media player, that's how close the early stages of the two albums are.

I suppose it's testament to Diabulus in Musica's skill as composers than despite everything, Argia still manages to seem more or less on par with The Wanderer in terms of quality. A very slight step down but round about the same rating tier. Argia has been a disappointment to me though, no getting around that, as I fully expected Diabulus in Musica to up their game with this one and if anything they seem a bit less inspired and in some ways stuck in a rut. My 4 star range rating should let you know that there's still hope for Diabulus in Musica realising the potential that is obviously there, but they did come closer to it on their last album than they do on Argia.

77/100

(Originally written for Heavy Metal Haven: http://metaltube.freeforums.org/diabulus-in-musica-argia-t3443.html)