(9/10 pts) - www.Doomantia.com
„,The Golden Bough‘ cares not for genre boundaries. Instead it strides across the metal world like a loincloth-clad behemoth, liberally pooping life-affirming, fist-pumping metal anthems out across the landscape for its awestruck inhabitants to gaze at like apes before an obelisk. This is everything metal should be – as overblown and grandiose as possible, taking itself and its subject matter 100% seriously and never pussying out and hiding behind a veil of irony like the Dragonforces of this world.“
(5/5) - Leave the Hall (UK)
Album of the Month 10/2010
9,5/10 pts
„Atlantean Kodex from Bavaria, with their downright orthodox Heavy Metal between Epic (more) and Doom (less) are one of the most important opposite poles to the ongoing McDonaldization of the scene. [...] The best metal album since While Heaven Wept‘s ,Vast Oceans Lachrymose‘.“
Album of the Month 12/2010
9 OUT OF 10 POINTS
„When Elendil’s and Gil-Galad’s hordes marched out into the war of the last alliance, it must have been to this. ,The golden bough‘ is one hell of a heavy metal album and I promise, hand on my heart of steel, that if a few years ago I would have been allowed to wish for a band that didn’t exist, it would have sounded exactly like this.“(9/10)
HEAVY MAGAZINE (Germany)SOUNDCHECK #1 / ALBUM OF THE MONTH 10/2011
(12/12 pts)
Sacred Metal (D): „The best metal album from Germany since many years [...] a touching, ethereal milestone of German metal history.“
Sacred Metal (D) - review no. 2: „A monolith of metallic might, which is setting a new standard [...] album of the year.“
Metalcrypt.com (USA): „An album that is not only the best metal music of the year, but one of the most significant and deep albums ever made.“ (5+/5 pts)
Metalcrypt (USA) – review no.2: „Atlantean Kodex not only live up to the expectation, but blow it away. ,The Golden Bough‘ is an unbelievably mature, well executed album that provides a blueprint of how Epic Metal is done. [...] No self-respecting fan of Heavy Metal should be without ,The Golden Bough‘. A masterpiece.“ (5/5)
Powermetal.de (D): „,The GoldenBough‘ is an impressing demonstration how touching and inartificial Heavy Metal can still be after 40 years of existence. An album, which can be deeply moving without any clichés or tacky standardized attributes, if you allow it to.“ (10/10)
Hellride Music (USA): „Get ready for one of the most chilling, hair raising and just plain brilliant metal releases of the year [...] The whole album is so astounding and completely intense, this will humble many for sure.“
Forgotten Scroll (GRE): „Take this masterpiece and put it next to Manowar and Bathory treasures or next to the Doomsword debut which was the album that have marked the Epic Metal sound for the previous decade. 11 years later “The Golden Bough” comes to mark the next decade, it will be with no doubt an album-reference for the years to come, an album that will mark the Epic Metal sound. There was a need for such an inspired record, powerful enough to bring the Epic Metal back to its real standards.“
Stormbringer.at (A): „An album which leaves you speechless [...] Powerful Epic Metal with incredible melodies, performed with well-versed musicianship and packaged in a wonderfully warm and organic mix. For me a definite candidate for the title ,album of the year‘.“ (5/5)
Metalnews.de (D): „Metal how it‘s supposed to be [...] a coming classic.“ (7/7)
Metallized (D): „This album is really big“ (10/10)
Angry Metal Guy (USA): „I wasn’t prepared for anywhere near this level of asskickery. To put it quite simply, this is one of the most epic and huge sounding metal albums to drop on us in years.“ (4,5/5)
Metal District (D): „THE German Epic Metal album of the last years. No competition in sight.“ (9,5/10)
Popdose (UK): „It’s one of the most perfect albums I’ve heard this year.“
The Metal Register (USA): „To say that Atlantean Kodex‘s first official full-length release, “The Golden Bough” is a well-deserved effort is an understatement. It’s like a mythical journey between Heaven and Hell, the battle between Cerberus and Hercules, the journey down the river Styx. As you approach the ferryman to pay for your trip into the Underworld, you might want to don your cloak of invisibility and disappear for eternity, dedicating an entire lifetime to the aural excellence of this album. [...] I’m going to predict the future, and say that Atlantean Kodex has the potential to become legends.“ (5/5)
GN-Szene.de „You are a metal fan and can buy only one album in 2010? Then under any circumstances: buy this!“
Metal Sound (Srb): „There’s no doubt that ‘The Golden Bough’ has become already the masterpiece in traditional metal circles. To make a story short, album is just amazing!“ - (10/10 pts)
Kronus Mortus (Hu): „A real delicacy to the fans of the genre.“ - (10/10 pts)
Metal.de (D): „Highly addictive!“ - (9/10 pts)
MaximumMetal (USA): „A must for die-hard fans of traditional metal!“ - (4/5 pts)
MegaMetal.de: „One of the best German albums in recent years“. (8,5/10)
Musikreviews.de: „Worshippers of truly epic metal must get this.“(12/15)
MyRevelations.de (D): „Epic Doom Metal on a level, which is currently rivalled only by labelmates While Heaven Wept“. (13/15)
Stonerrock.com (USA): „Atlantean Kodex just happens to be one of those bands that plays a particular style so flawlessly, and with so much conviction that they`re impossible to ignore. This album is so well done, and is crafted with so much care and detail that it transcends genre altogether [...] Highly recommended.“
BurnYourEars.de (D):- „A strong studio debut with an antique charme.“ (8/10)
DangerDog.com (USA): „This outstanding work flies in the face (better: slaps the face) of current modern metal redundancy with formidable metal acumen and power. Strongly recommended.“ (4,5/5)
Musikansich.de (D): „At last another metal album, which doesn‘t sound digital and lifeless, which breathes and will unfold in your ear, which doesn‘t need standardized dragons-and-swords-lyrics, which is simply moving.“(18/20)
Suite101 (D) „A great band with great anthems. In short: a great album!“
Heavy Sound (F): „A recommendation for all fans of epic metal.“ (8,5/10)
Metal Invader (GRE): „Masterpiece.“ (5/5)
Metal Temple (GRE): „The Golden Bough” is not only recommended if you consider yourself to be a fan of European slow tempo (not ‘funeral’) epic Metal; it’s one of the most ‘must’ albums I can think of since the inception of this term. The band has developed what was necessary to be worked without losing an inch of their neat style. We sincerely hope all the best for these shining battlers from Germany; we need such defenders, maybe like never before!“ (9/10)
Blood Chamber (D): „An emormous album with an interesting lyrical background [...] Remarkable and extraordinary.“ (9/10)
Vampster.de (D): „A truly enchanting and great album.“
Hellspawn (Bel): „A classic.“ (95/100)
Mindview Magazine (Bel): „This is a perfect release.“ (7/7)
Metal.it (I): „This is one of the albums of your life.“ (9,5/10)
OneMetal (USA): „Weighty, bombastic and absorbing, The Golden Bough is an excellent record on meticulously-composed epic metal.“ (4/5)
Metal Nightmare (UK): „Massive sound, long songs, big concepts, and it all comes down to one incredible album that you simply should not miss.“
Metal Team UK (UK): „Make no mistake; you will not hear a more classy, confident and gorgeous album of heavy metal this year. They deserve respect and acclaim for ‘The Golden Bough’ and I hope they will receive it.“
MetalPsalter.com (USA): „I came away from The Golden Bough thoroughly impressed on a number of levels; the vast scope of the album, the subtle shifts within songs and between tracks, the successful use of sampled sounds (wind, the sea, nature) to add atmosphere, and overall flow of the album are all noteworthy. Fans of doom, traditional heavy metal, and power metal should check this album out immediately.“ (4/5)
