Review taken from Rupture

Terrifying sounds of void, followed by a tribal drum, echoes of Gregorian chanting, fleeting female vocals finally building up to spine-chilling, reptilian, black metal vocals…and this is just the introduction.'Dargaard's 'Eternity rites' is a climactic fairytale full of medieval/folk themes beautifully composed and perfectly performed. Majestic, frequently aggressively dark, but more often melancholic atmosphere makes for a though-provoking listening experience. This is not relaxation music. Hide your "Sounds of the dolphins" CDs before you let this approach your CD player. However, if outright aggression is what you are after, then look somewhere else.
I have a feeling that this is the peak where Danzig's 'Black Aria' would have stood, had it not tripped over its creator's unnecessary ego. The musical themes here are more varied and the instruments sound more natural. The harp that has replaced the electric guitar as the front instrument is simply fantastic, the piano always seems to balance between feelings of futility and optimism and the samples (few and far between though they are) are used to good effect. Mr Tharen is, in my humble view, an established composer.  This brings me to the female half of the two artists making up 'Dargaard'. Elizabeth Toriser is in the same league as Lisa Gerrard and this is a hefty compliment. Enough said.  In the end, where is all this talent coming from? How come metal is the garden of delights in an otherwise barren musical landscape? It seems that the children of the musically dispossessed have come of age.

81 % (Reviewed 22 February 1999)

Review taken from Scream

4 pts. out of 6 pts. (Reviewed in Scream # 43 by; Bjørn Nørsterud)
If you're looking for metal, stop reading now. But if you prefer some bombastic, symphonic synth work with enchanting female vocals, please remember the name. Dargaard may have borrowed a few tricks from Vangelis and Mike Oldfield, but that's cool in my book. Album of the year in this genre!

Review taken from On The Surface

Terrifying sounds of void, followed by a tribal drum, echoes of Gregorian chanting, fleeting female vocals finally building up to spine-chilling, reptilian, black metal vocals…and this is just the introduction.'Dargaard's 'Eternity rites' is a climactic fairytale full of medieval/folk themes beautifully composed and perfectly performed. Majestic, frequently aggressively dark, but more often melancholic atmosphere makes for a though-provoking listening experience. This is not relaxation music. Hide your "Sounds of the dolphins" CDs before you let this approach your CD player. However, if outright aggression is what you are after, then look somewhere else.  I have a feeling that this is the peak where Danzig's 'Black Aria' would have stood, had it not tripped over its creator's unnecessary ego. The musical themes here are more varied and the instruments sound more natural. The harp that has replaced the electric guitar as the front instrument is simply fantastic, the piano always seems to balance between feelings of futility and optimism and the samples (few and far between though they are) are used to good effect. Mr Tharen is, in my humble view, an established composer.  This brings me to the female half of the two artists making up 'Dargaard'. Elizabeth Toriser is in the same league as Lisa Gerrard and this is a hefty compliment. Enough said.  In the end, where is all this talent coming from? How come metal is the garden of delights in an otherwise barren musical landscape? It seems that the children of the musically dispossessed have come of age.


Review taken from Soundbase

In unserer hektischen Welt mu?Zeit f?e und Entspannung gefunden werden, will man nicht v?g ausflippen. Mit "Eternity Rites" haben "Dargaard" ein wundersch?, ausgeglichenes Album produziert, das den H? meist instrumental in eine angenehme, aber d? Stimmung versetzt. Im Gegensatz zu ?lichen Bands wird man jedoch nicht in ein schwarzes Loch gezerrt, da die Atmosph? nicht zu aufdringlich ist und die Melodien eine positive Ausstrahlung besitzen. Der Gesamteindruck von "Eternity Rites" wird durch den Frauengesang, der eher in den Hintergrund gelegt wurde, unterstrichen. Die abwechslungsreichen und anspruchsvollen St? garantieren langen H?nu? trotzdem wirkt die Musik niemals aufdringlich. Somit kann das Album auch im Background laufen, doch ist das Material daf?l zu schade und anspruchsvoll. "Eternity Rites" eignet sich f? H?nu?in fortgeschrittener Stunde die mit ihrem Hauch von Dark Wave nach Kerzenschein verlangt.(MiH)

Review taken from The Plug

I took a bit of a chance on this one, having no info on them beforehand, and I'm very glad I did. This Austrian two-piece have put together a richly textured album that mixes neo-classical, folk and dark ambient music to create an other-worldly atmosphere that is guaranteed to transport you from this mundane world.  Starting off with cold waves of ambience, the album soon instills a dark rhythm before the evil intonation of Tharen (the man responsible for all the music, also of Abigor fame) slither into the mix. The second track features a more sweeping, orchestral approach and heralds the gorgeous vocals of Elisabeth Toriser, a soprano with an operatic voice that is both clear and powerful, yet strangely delicate.

The remainder of the album follows suit in a similar vein, with the two drastically different vocal styles playing off one another while the music builds and cascades through many layers of majestic beauty and melancholy. The overall sound and feel of Eternity Rites reminded me a lot of Norway's Arcana, particularly the tracks "Down to the Halls of the Blind" (which features a nice melody of bells), "Nightvision" and "Eternity Rite (pt. 2)." Where Dargaard better their northern neighbors is in the production, as everything on Eternity Rites sounds crystal clear and vast.

It always amazes me when someone so into one scene, like Tharen is with black metal, can turn around and create such a beautiful work of art as this in a completely different style. If you have a fondness for the romantic, medieval strains of bands like Arcana and Mortiis, then you absolutely must get a hold of this album.
[Daniel Hinds]

Review taken from darkwood.com

This album has nothing to do with metal at all but I think it may be interesting for everyone who's open minded for other dark and beautiful music styles. There are still some connections to black metal though, such as the dark atmosphere the music creates and the black metal voice of the singer Sang-drax Tharen who is well known as the Keyboarder from Abigor, one of the most famous austrian black metal acts. Sang-drax Tharen is responsible for all the music and some black metal vocals in three or four songs. The other band member is the female sopranist Elisabeth Toriser. With her beautyful and strong voice she fits perfectly to the dark keyboard-only music Sang-drax creates. When I first listened to the album it reminded me a bit of "Summoning" without guitars. The music is also very medival and melodic. Most of the instrumental songs could be great intros or outros from other black metal bands. If I should describe the music style of Dargaard I would probably name it medival black metal dark wave or something like that. But I don't want to categorize it and for me it's just extremely beautiful music which creates a perfect dark atmosphere. The lyrics are very occult but more about astral journeys and non-linear existance and not about the typical satanic stuff. For me this is one of the best albums of 1998 and I strongly recommend you to give it a try! All of the 11 songs are great and you will be caught by this fantastic music for the complete playing time of 47:36 minutes.

Rating: 96/100

Review taken from Doom metal (in French)

Un duo autrichien qui rappelle Arcana ou Die Verbannten Kinder Eva's. Un album atmoshérique avec des influences médievales et parfois classiques/romantiquesoù le chant divin d'Elizabeth se mèle à la musique entrainante et au chant black de Sang-Drax. L'album de ce début d'année.
5/6 (Jeremie)

Review taken from Dark Desire

Medieval ambience and eternal softness surrounded by mystical shadows. Nice and sensual female vocals. Gliding with visions of night. Some echoes of 'Arcena Summoning'. It leaves me on a journey into the rites of eternity. (Mélissa)

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