Ancient Prophecy 2nd CD - "Testimony"

Curious if anyone has noticed that Germany's Ancient Prophecy released a new CD earlier this year called "Testimony."  I don't really see anyone talking about it, and the band does not seem very aggressive with social media, so it may have gone unnoticed.  

(The rest is adapted from my review on Amazon)  They basically pick up where they left off after their 2015 debut "Pounded For Our Sins."    On both releases they successfully merge Power, Progressive, Death, Gothic, Modern Thrash, and melodic metal into an interesting hybrid that works well with the vocals of Jacqueline Kunz, who at times sounds quite a bit like a more aggressive Natalie Merchant (ex-10,000 Maniacs).

"Testimony" is a heavier, more musically muscular and confident release than "Pounded." It retains the band's penchant for melody while at the same time hits harder than before. My one criticism is that while the song-writing is more developed and stronger on this release, the songs do sound a bit similar after awhile. Most of the material is mid-paced. More variety in tone and pace - like a few faster songs - would have been helpful.

Still, this is a strong release and is likely to end up being one of my favorite metal releases of 2019.

Thanks for sharing this. Who would you compare this album to? Nightwish?

That's a good question.  I would say they sound like a combination of Essence of Sorrow, Deny The Fallen, Perpetual Legacy, Hilastherion, Angel 7, and Boarders.   All with a female singer who doesn't growl, but there are some male growly vocals here and there.

Isn't this their 3rd release?

Well technically they have released 2 demos, one in 1999 and one in 2008, and 2 CD's / albums.   
So I would say this is their 2nd official release.

I need to get this CD.  Anybody know where you can buy CD's?  I've never seen them on any distros, and just did some searching online but couldn't find it.

The album Pounded for our Sins has some fond memories for me.  I've listened to that CD probably 10 times more than any other CD in my life.  The reason is because my daughter would go to sleep so much better when listening to metal (when she was an infant).  I learned this concept with my older son, and the "metal soothing" trick didn't work on my next daughter, but it was back in full force for the next one.  Anyway, my wife hates metal, but she could tolerate the Pounded for our Sins CD....so it just stayed in the CD player for a year....and it was played every single day on repeat.

We were talking about the Ancient Prophecy CD's on another thread a few days ago, and I said that I e-mailed the band to inquire about purchasing their merchandise.   They do their own distribution, and I do not believe they sell the CD's through any other channel.

I still have not heard back from them, but it's only been 2 days.  I told them there were people on this board who are interested, so hopefully they will get back to me soon and then I can let everyone know what the deal is.

Devon Hill wrote:I need to get this CD.  Anybody know where you can buy CD's?  I've never seen them on any distros, and just did some searching online but couldn't find it.

I emailed the band a while ago to try and buy some copies to re-sale via Soundmass.com but they weren't very interested in selling them to us! Seems odd - most bands are keen to spread their music...

Still have not heard back from the band!  

Will e-mail them again tomorrow.

Constantine wrote:Well technically they have released 2 demos, one in 1999 and one in 2008, and 2 CD's / albums.   
So I would say this is their 2nd official release.

Ok, well I have "Days of Doom" and "Pounded by Our Sins", and for a "demo", that one is very good! Like it better than the first "official release."

I heard that one, but prefer the later 2 albums because I don't care for the original vocalist on the demo.

Since they pressed the demo on CD, I am going to say it's fair to call it an official release.  So I will agree that they have 3 CD's out.

Where did you manage to get the demo CD?   i cannot find their CD's anywhere, and the band seems to be the keeper of all the merchandise.   I hope they get back to me before they decide to break up, lol!

I really don't remember where I got that, it was some time ago.

I bought the demo from Roxx Records in 2017.  I tried looking just now to see if they still have it, but I don't see it.  Interesting comments about how some people like it better than the next release.  I'm the exact opposite.  I am not a fan of the style of the demo, and I like the style of the next one a lot more.

I e-mailed the band again but still have gotten no response so far.   
I will not give up though, there's got to be a way to get these CD's.  
I agree, I did not care for the demo and to me it sounds like a totally different band.

Hey guys - Update:

After I sent 3 e-mails in Nov/Dec that went unanswered, I finally got the band's attention on their You Tube page.  I have been dialoguing today with the manager and trying to get some price info.   

The shipping looks to be pretty steep unless we do a large order.  An example he gave me was a package of up to 4.4 pounds (2 kg) would be $22.45 (19.89 euros) to ship.    Therefore....

Can I hear from everyone who is interested what you would like to order from the band?   

Unfortunately I cannot seem to upload the PDF of their merchandise but it can be found here on their FB page (scroll down until you see it):

Ancient Prophecy Facebook Page

Once I get a better idea of how many CD's, t-shirts, etc. that we are talking about, I can give them better information to work with.

Thanks.

Constantine wrote:Hey guys - Update:

After I sent 3 e-mails in Nov/Dec that went unanswered, I finally got the band's attention on their You Tube page.  I have been dialoguing today with the manager and trying to get some price info.   

The shipping looks to be pretty steep unless we do a large order.  An example he gave me was a package of up to 4.4 pounds (2 kg) would be $22.45 (19.89 euros) to ship.    Therefore....

Can I hear from everyone who is interested what you would like to order from the band?   

Unfortunately I cannot seem to upload the PDF of their merchandise but it can be found here on their FB page (scroll down until you see it):

Ancient Prophecy Facebook Page

Once I get a better idea of how many CD's, t-shirts, etc. that we are talking about, I can give them better information to work with.

Thanks.

I would buy one for certain. Not sure how that shipping could really be pared down though. That stinks. Maybe they could send them without jewel cases? How much does a CD weigh?

Hey, at least the one song I heard on uTube is blatantly Christian.

They even had Jesus Christ in their lyrics!  That's pretty rare these days.

I'll have to check out their other songs now...

Well, if they could drop that growling foolishness

Constantine wrote:
Once I get a better idea of how many CD's, t-shirts, etc. that we are talking about, I can give them better information to work with.

Thanks.

I'd go in for a Testimony CD.

Man, this SHREDS. And what a killer vocalist.

I absolutely love this 2nd album. It's overall much stronger than the first.