Adagio is a French symphonic progressive metal band. Stephan Forté, the band's guitarist, is considered the creative force behind Adagio. Adagio's music is characterized by technical precision, dark, dense orchestration, complex lead work, and a driving rhythm section. However, on the group's third studio album, Dominate, they added death grunts to their sound. The band has finished the pre-production and mastering of their fourth album, Archangels in Black. The album will feature nine songs plus one Japanese bonus track. According to the band's website the "compositions are the ultimate between melodic and extreme metal, and can be considered as a more brutal version of Underworld." The new album is due to be released in February 2009 through Listenable Records.^[1]

Line-up

Current members

• Vocals: Christian Palin
• Guitar: Stephan Forté
• Bass: Franck Hermanny
• Keyboards: Kevin Codfert
• Drums: Eric Lébailly

Former members

• Vocals: Gus Monsanto (recorded Dominate. Left April 9, 2008.)
• Vocals: David Readman (Recorded Sanctus Ignis and Underworld. Left 24 July 2004 because of conflict between Readman's and Adagio's management.)
• Keyboards: Richard Andersson (Recorded leads on Sanctus Ignis. Left 2002.)
• Drums: Dirk Bruinberg (Recorded Sanctus Ignis and Underworld Left 15 September 2003 in the middle of the Underworld tour due to schedule conflicts.)

Discography

• Sanctus Ignis - 2001
• Underworld - (July 23^rd, 2003)
• A Band In Upperworld - (June 24^th, 2004)
• Dominate - (December 16^th, 2005)
• Archangels in Black - (due to be released February 2009)

See also

• Related genres:
  • European classical music
    • Classical music era
    • Romantic music
    • 20th century classical music
  • Neo-classical metal
  • Progressive metal
  • Symphonic metal
• Similar bands:
  • Angra
  • Cacophony
  • Symphony X
  • Yngwie Malmsteen
  • Dream Theater

External links

• Adagio official home page
• Adagio official US fan club
• Audioscrobbler artist profile
• Adagio at MySpace

References

• Stephan Forté's home page on the web