Fragment Soul - Axiom of Choice

Fragment Soul

Axiom of Choice

by Djenty Djessica Schiefelbein at 17 June 2021, 6:27 PM

FRAGMENT SOUL is a Greek band that was formed in 2016 and came to fruition in 2021. It has been a long road of hard work for the band to put together this first album, “Axiom of Choice.” It was written to be an epic tale of romance.

The album has 4 brutally long tracks, and that’s about where the brutality ended for me. "A Soul Inhabiting Two Bodies" begins and one is immediately stricken with the impression of KATATONIA, who the band named as one of their influences. It starts off slow and you think it might pick up and go somewhere but it never does. The vocals are pleasant enough. I personally don’t usually care for clean vocals but Mr. Nick Argyriou here has a buttery smooth voice not unlike Jonas Renske and is quite pleasant to listen to.

I suppose if I needed something to fall asleep to while driving I could use this. It is certainly boring enough musically. The drumming is basic at best. The guitar never goes anywhere. I was hoping all this might change through the next tracks, but I was disappointed. I really couldn’t find anything in my listening to set this music apart from any other aside from the lyrics and vocals. But if the focus of your music is going to be the vocals, I really feel like I should be able to clearly understand what you’re saying so I can focus on it and not on the fact that the guitar is putting me to sleep.

At last we have reached “Oedipus Complex” and I can’t help but wonder why they called it that but whatever? The band redeems itself ever so slightly here. We get some instrumentals that are heavy in comparison to the rest of the album, and more gorgeous vocals. Definitely the best track musically on the album.

Overall, I think the best word to describe this album would be, “lethargic.” It has no energy at all, even in a Doom Metal sense. It’s quiet, it’s soft, it’s gentle. Argyriou has written some beautiful poetry and has an amazingly beautiful singing voice, and I really respect that. But I don’t see this album having the heavy and dark tones that it claims to have. One can definitely hear the KATATONIA influences on their music, and one hears them fall very short of mimicking that sound completely.

Songwriting: 7
Musicianship: 2
Memorability: 2
Production: 5