I'll be fair and honest: when I first started hearing about Angtoria, I figured it to be little more than a vehicle for Sarah Jezebel Deva, one-time Cradle of Filth countess and Kovenant starsinger turned aspiring solo artist. I assumed this was another example of an ensemble musician deciding he or she was too important to be anywhere but in front of the rest of the band, and that Deva's debut would be yet another middling female-fronted gothic metal album, like a second-rate Lacuna Coil or third-rate Evanescence.

Boy, was I wrong.

I'm sorry I did not pay attention to all those Angtoria eMail press releases sooner. Because instead of getting carbon copy goth metal, I ended up with symphonic metal not entirely unlike that of Rhapsody (of Fire) or Therion, albeit heavily biased towards the gothic end of the melodic spectrum. There is almost more orchestra than metal band here, and the result is a surprisingly fresh and unique sound somewhere between Cradle of Filth and Luca Turilli's Dreamquest.

A bit over half a decade ago, Deva met Chris Rehn (Abyssos) while on tour. They hit it off well, apparently, and eventually began talking about doing a music project together. The duo wrote some music throughout 2002, put together a demo in 2004, and by 2005 they were recording what would become the 'band's' full-length debut, "God Has a Plan for Us All." With almost all lyrics written by Deva, and the majority of the music composed by Rehn, Angtoria first struck a chord as being 'the new band with that woman from Cradle of Filth.' But Angtoria is a trio, with Chris Rehn's brother Tommy joining in on much of the songcraft, and boasts an assortment of guest musicians (including Cradle of Filth's Dave Pybus on bass guitar). And while "God Has a Plan for Us All" is not quite the 'purely orchestral project, in the vein of a movie soundtrack or film score music' that Deva and Rehn first talked about, it is nonetheless one of the strongest symphonic metal album of the past few years.

From the obligatory intro track, Angtoria's siren diva draws the listener through a thick mix of soaring vocals, lavish strings, rhythmic percussion and just enough metal to satisfy the headbanger in us all. The title track ups the epic choirs, and manages to be insidiously catchy despite its challenging subject matter. "Deity of Disgust" is one of the album's more technical tracks, with a fast-moving Egyptian motif and even some male vocals that manage not to be cheesy or forced. "The Addiction" is surprisingly light and melodic, not only lacking metal entirely but also far from the dark soundscapes of gothic music. And the rest of the album maintains the general trend of melding dark metal with a huge symphonic sound.

Sarah Jezebel Deva is an amazing singer... which is why I do not understand the degree of vocal processing present on this album. "I'm Calling" especially utilizes far too much normalization or echo effect or something... like a beautiful woman wearing too much makeup, Deva's siren call is almost lost beneath an artificial-sounding exterior. Some of the song titles are downright bad: "Six Feet Under's Not Deep Enough" and "Hell Hath No Fury Like a Woman Scorned" reek of melodrama. The gothic narrator on "Original Sin (the Devil's Waiting in the Wing)" almost works, but the death growls that follow soon thereafter feel completely forced.

In the end, Angtoria's "God Has a Plan for Us" is surprisingly good, professional in sound and scope and quite advanced for a debut album. It certainly belies its founders' experience with other bands. At the same time, "God Has a Plan for Us All" is not a perfect album, and it shows that Deva and Rehn still have some polishing to do. But this is still one of the better releases of the year, and far better than it possibly should have been. One thing is for sure: I won't be ignoring those Angtoria press release eMails quite so much in the future.