Albums

Album Review: The Arcane Order

Album: In The Wake Of Collisions
Label: Metal Blade

So you want to be one of The Arcane Order. Well, you’d better suit up because these boys certainly have a nasty initiation ceremony in store for you. ‘In The Wake Of Collisions’ is simply a beast of an album. The guitars will batter into you whilst the keyboards will sweep, confuse and confound you. The vocals will scream in your ears and spit into your face and the drums, well, the drums will simply double-kick you to death. Is that metal enough for you?

From the first track everything is full pelt, pedal to the floor, an insane barrage of sound as the band go on a mission to obliterate. ‘Death Is Imminent’ opens with meaty keyboards and dark chanting inciting the fear that the title may indeed be true. Morten Lowe Sorensen’s epic drums beat in with that soon-to-be incessant double-kick before Kasper Thomsen’s doom-laden vocals step it up changing from ear-splitting screams to deep, guttural roars. Keyboards add a brief melodic undercurrent before the vast, thudding drums and busy, interweaving guitars take over leaving you gasping for a break in intensity.

The rest of the album simply follows in the same vein with some songs outweighing others in impact - ‘The Serpent Tower’ is notable for its voracious appetite for shredding guitars; ‘Unleash the Tyrant’ for its blistering minute-long double-kick opening; and ‘When Oceans Become Deserts’ because it, being instrumental, means you get respite from the vocal assault, though not from everything else. It is relentless, without respite and, ultimately, suffocating.

Listening to this album it’s easy to imagine the state of their kit at the end of the recording session. Certainly new strings, skins and cymbals will be needed; and no doubt a new voicebox for Mr. Thomsen. If you like your music hard, fast and unrelenting then you could do worse than this, though it’s not for the faint-hearted.

For fans of: Hatesphere, Testament, Chimaira
Band links = The Arcane Order

Buy this CD!

Tags: album, cd, arcane order, wake of collisions, review, metal, hatesphere, chimaira, testament

This review originally appeared in Subba-Cultcha.

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