The Arcane Order - In The Wake of Collisions

[Dolamite S. Biffle]

THE ARCANE ORDER are a new band with only one other album thus far in their careers. While I will say I wasn’t totally unfamiliar with the band, I think I had heard their name about a year ago. Though with the album art one could assume a Melodic Death Metal band, but what is present is whole another kind of monster.

Flemming started writing songs for the band in 2000, after departing from AUTUMN LEAVES. Nothing got off the ground till 2003 when the band formed, but with a different singer. They had begun recording it when they realized that their relationship with said singer wouldn’t work. As a replacement their friend Kasper from RAUNCHY stepped in. Since then they have released their debut album as well as played with TESTAMENT and SUFFOCATION.

THRASH!!! The music took me a little by surprise. The sounds are pretty similar in regards to DARKANE with a sprinkling of SYL. The atmosphere of DIMMU BORGIR is added with the addition of keys. The vocalist, Kasper (RAUNCHY), particularly reminds of Devy in delivery style, but not as much in tone. I really like the epic feel they try to add to Thrash. The last two minutes or so with large amounts of double bass and sick screaming flawless and guitar work. "Between Death And Hubris" begins with much more of a groove to it. The keys in the chorus again add just the right amount atmosphere to the track, giving it a haunting feel. Essentially take "Death Is Imminent" and add a solid groove feel to the riff and less keyboards. The next track bleeds the SYL influence particularly in the drumming; Morten must be a big fan of Gene. The sweeping guitar part is fucking sweet at about 2:15. This part of the track totally has their own sound and it is fucking sick. It lasts for about 90 seconds or so, and is the highlight of the album thus far.

The longest track on the album, "Eruption Of Red", is next up. The second vocalist pops up more often in this tracking, adding his more guttural screams comparable to the deeper end of the IN FLAMES/DARKANE style vocals. The instrumental part of the track has a really odd time signature particularly for the drums. The guitar solo immediately after owns as well though this instrumental part isn’t as good as in the last song. The keyboards also play in a little more and even what seems to sound like a chick singing one word in the chorus. She is used again for several bars with about 2 minutes left in the song and angelic voice goes marvelously over the double bass. The remaining 2 minutes of this track officially the new highlight. "When Oceans Become Deserts", an all instrumental track that I thought was good, but could have been left off the album or expanded into a full song.

A return to the SYL sound from the first couple of songs from the album is heard on Unleash The Tyrant. The first part of the song was not that exciting, compared to the rest of the album. The second was more interesting, but not much. The seventh track begins with the guttural singer taking the reins and when his vocals dominate the music it sounds much closer to something along the lines of NILE, but not for very long. After this point though it sounds essentially like the other tracks on the album. "Sanctity Of Allegiance" has a nice mid-paced epic kinda feel at the beginning. The final track has the greatest variation in tempo and overall sound. Going from later day IN FLAMES to DARKANE to a whole another kind of Metal sound. This track is my second favorite behind track 4.

I gotta say that I haven’t liked an unknown band for a while. THE ARCANE ORDER bring a certain brand of supersonic Melodic Death/Thrash to the table and it covers the whole damn table down to the floor! I would highly recommend this to any fan of IN FLAMES’ "Jester Race" or "Layers Of Lies" by DARKANE.

8/10

[scratchthesurface]

Appearances can be deceiving and one glance at the band’s website and their press photos might lead one to think that The Arcane Order is one of many bands out there fusing Death-Metal with Hardcore elements. And sincerely the prospect of listening to another Death-core group wasn’t very exciting at all since my tolerance levels for this type of music is full to the brim.
Until the play button is pressed and leading track “Death Is Eminent” bludgeons from the speakers and completely blows way all my preconceived stereotypes. Beyond all the clean looks and elaborated imagery lurks a sound so ugly, so vicious and brutal that will shatter your world completely. Imagine the surgical precision of Suffocation, the dark atmospheric leanings of Strapping Young Lad, the raw brutality of Behemoth and the technical prowess of Death all masterfully combined in six plus minutes. I immediately knew that I was in presence of something really good! The musicianship is exemplar and above reproach, which might come as a no surprise considering that Denmark’s The Arcane Order is led by former Autumn Leaves guitarist Flemming C. Lund and features in their ranks some prominent names of the Danish scene like Raunchy’s vocalist Kasper Thomsen, former Autumn Leaves bassist Boris Tandrup, guitarist Kasper Kirkegaard from Submission and Koldborn drummer Mortem Løwe Sørensen.
“In The Wake Of Collisions” is in fact The Arcane Order’s second release, following the well received debut "The Machinery of Oblivion", which apparently was nominated as best debut album at the Danish Metal Awards in 2006. Its successor will surely consolidate The Arcane Order position even further as one of the most challenging and interesting bands around ‘cause throughout these nine tracks the quintet churns out a complex and precise blend of technical Death-Metal, hyper-fast Grindcore and Symphonic Black Metal that simply demands attention.

Review posted on Scratch the Surface Webzine.
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