Agathodaimon are a gothic/symphonic black metal band from Mainz, Germany. History The band began in September 1995, when guitarist Sathonys and drummer Matthias got together to assemble a dominant death metal band with harmonic arrangements (melodic death metal). They put adverts in several music magazines in the hopes that they would find suitable musicians to play with them. In answer to the advertisement, they were joined by bassist Marko Thomas and keyboardist and vocalist Vlad Dracul. The last member of their initial formation was the second guitarist, Hyperion, who joined them by the end of that year. With this formation the band recorded the Carpe Noctem demo tape, which received fair reviews from the German specialized press. It also attracted the attention of one of Century Media's executives, who began keeping track of the band. Agathodaimon then proceeded to play minor gigs and support some European bands. Eventually, they received an offer from Century Media to fund the recording of their second demo. This demo was recorded in early 1997 and was named Near Dark. It attracted the interest of quite a few recording labels, and in the end the band opted to sign with Nuclear Blast. After successfully composing the songs for their debut album Blacken the Angel, one of the members of Agathodaimon, Vlad, was forced to quit the band due to problems with immigration. After returning to his native Romania, he was denied re-entry in Germany. The situation involved the fact that he had left the country during Nicolae Ceaușescu's regime. The band therefore was forced to make use of guest musicians to record their debut. Akaias (from Asaru) did the vocals and Marcel "Vampallens" (from Nocte Obducta) took the role of the keyboards. Vlad's participation on the album was restricted to the solo song "Contemplation Song", which was sent to the band via air mail. The CD caused some impact, and Agathodaimon proceeded to tour with bands such as Children of Bodom and Hypocrisy. At the height of the album's success they opened gigs for Dimmu Borgir, Lacrimosa and other bands. In 1999, Vampallens decided to quit the band in order to dedicate himself fully to his main project Nocte Obducta. He was replaced by female keyboardist Christine S. To record their second album - Higher Art of Rebellion - the band travelled to Romania, in order to be able to play together with Vlad. The