I don’t often get any sort of metal music to review and, when I saw the cover to “Amulets and Charms” by Angelic Foe, I thought it would be my turn to suffer from bleeding ears.
Yet it was not to be. Angelic Foe - Annmari Thim Hermansson and Fredrik Hermansson – are more darkwave, more gothic than a metal band would ever aspire to be. The lyrics to their songs do indeed ponder mystical matters but in a way that is altogether less brutal and one sided than a metal band with said brutality being replaced by poetic structure and presentational elegance while the rough gruffness of a metal band vocalist is not to be found anywhere in these nine songs and we instead get the poised, graceful and often near theatrical voice of Annmari Thim Hermansson. That’s no bad thing in my book.
The songs are themselves arranged in a somewhat symphonic manner with much being made of layers rather than merely relying on power chords for impact and, perhaps as a result of this approach, this album deserves to be played several times to better appreciate the scope and variety of this band’s music.
“Amulets and Charms” wasn’t an album I was expecting to like yet I did. Angelic Foe seem to revel in their mix of complexity and wide ranging musical influences and that makes all the difference to my ears.