Odes Of Ecstasy - Original Atmospheric death metal
Odes Of Ecstasy was formed in November of 1993, by Dimitris Bikos (guitars/vocals) and Joseph Nikou (bass). A year later Dimitris Panayiotidis (guitars) joined the band and in December of 1995 they released their first promo tape featuring one song called "Theogony" which is no longer available. In the summer of 1996, they recorded their first official demo named "Atheistic Emotions," with the addition of Christina Maniati (female vocals). The demo includes three songs of Atmospheric Symphonic Death Metal, a cover of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and an Ambient tune featuring only female vocals, keyboards and electric guitars. "Atheistic Emotions" received great responses and Odes Of Ecstasy were reckoned as one the most promising young bands to emerge from Greece. Soon after, Dimitris Panayiotidis leaves the band, to fulfill his military obligations and was replaced by Nikos Baltas. In May of 1997, the band recorded one new song called "Words of Insanity" which was released as promo '97. The recordings took place at Praxis studio, Greece’s most prestigious studio. The song shows the band incorporating elements from classical music and further expanding it’s already grandiose sound. It received rave reviews, as Odes Of Ecstasy got compared with bands like to Septic Flesh, Therion and Theatre Of Tragedy, and was featured as demo of the month in the Greek Metal Hammer. This promo also helped the band sign a deal with The End Records. The debut album is entitled, "Embossed Dream In Four Acts" and features six tunes that set forth paths of classical and symphonic death metal. Their full-length is a very strong debut. Fantastic female vocals and on the whole a great cd.