Aphrodite's Child - 666
Hello everyone, welcome back to my blog. Today, we are reviewing the third and last album from Aphrodite's Child, 666. Now despite the very evocative title, it does not have links to Satanism or the spread of the worship of evil. Quite the opposite, it actually contains verses from The Book of Revelation, a.k.a. The Final Book Of The New Testament. Now that I have got that out of the way, this record is the band's most critically acclaimed, and for good reason. Let's talk about why it is.
We open on a choir chanting "We found The System".
Then we transition into Babylon, an acoustic rock song, with a very groovy feel to it, accompanied by some crowd screaming. A very nice song to be sure.
We turn to a calmer demeanor, with Loud, Loud, Loud, featuring a young boy narrating about the day the world will stop.
As wind chimes plink, we hear Mr. Demis' gentle voice, as we enter The Four Horsemen, referring to The Four Horsemen Of The Apocalypse. This song is an absolute bop, and a highlight of the album. We also have a killer guitar solo towards the end.
Next we have The Lamb, featuring traditional instruments from Greece, and choir chanting. Another great song.
The Seventh Seal features narration from a man, with a repeating chord progression in the background.
We now move to Side 2 of the album, with the Aegian Sea. A slow, haunting track with clavinet-like melodies, ambiental chords and ghostly guitar notes. We also here the narration from earlier, continue it's story, only slowed down. A droning buzz slowly gets louder and louder, as we reach the end of the song.
Seven Bowls features narration from a choir and a slow, almost doom metal-like bassline.
Followed by The Wakening Beast, featuring growls, trembles and wind chimes once more.
Lament features deep voiced singing, and a haunting Byzantine influenced instrumental, alongside the oppressing doom metal-like bass notes.
The Marching Beast is a short instrumental interlude. Gave me a bit of a jumpscare when I first listened to the album. The sudden transition from quiet, ambiental singing to loud horns and pianos, was very unexpected.
The Battle Of The Locusts and Do It are two very similiar short hard rock songs. Very nice.
Tribulation was a short horn interlude.
The Beast is a groovy, funk-like song, with some rather goofy singing. Still a very nice song.
Ofis features some talking, and some goofy noises at the end.
Side Three starts with Seven Trumpets, a short announcement, which transitions into Altamont. A happy go lucky sounding song, with not much substance to it.
We then move into The Wedding Of The Lamb, a flute driven song, with some droning noise alongside.
Then we enter The Capture Of The Beast, which I want to point out opens with the funniest, yet unemotional announcement I have ever heard. The track itself features chain noises and pounding drums.
We now enter the most uncomfortable song on here, Infinity. It features a woman chanting and screaming "I am, I am to come, I was". Was controversial back in the day, it makes me rather uncomfortable now.
We move to Hic Et Nunc, which means "Here And Now" in Latin. The song is pretty nice and groovy, but the choir is rather annoying. Apart from that, the song's pretty good.
Finally, we reach Side four, with only two tracks. The first is All The Seats Were Occupied. It is the longest song in the entire double-album, clocking in at 19 minutes. It is mainly driven by some guitar chords and strumming, whilst sections of various songs from the record play here and there.
Finally, we reach Break, where we hear as one says goodbye to us, and since this album is one the band released, it's a fitting end to this roller coaster of a record.
So, what are my thoughts on this album. It's a mixed bag, to say the least. For someone who mainly listens to albums for music, it's a bit like how I feel about The Wall album. Long, it has many highlights, but not quite my cup of tea. Many people enjoy them, I like them, but their not my favourites. Still, this album is a must listen if you have the time.
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