By: Anders

Posted: Aug 31, 2006

Australian black metal when ugliest is what Arcane Necrosis is delivering. The band consists of Nagoth who handles it all, and to be honest he does pretty well! The compositions he has made are quite gripping, and doesn't need many spins to become settled in the mind-fields of the listener. The grim and cold riffing rips up old wounds and grip the listener and lead the battle a long way. The black metal delivered on the album is of the old school and possesses a good deal of emotion and passion, 2 things that leaves a lasting impression when listening to the disc. Into the metal, Nagoth has smoothly blended atmospheric and ambient darkwave parts, not something that I personally is that fond of, when bands do so, the electronically aspect really needs to be great for me to absorb it. The electronically side fits perfectly into the harsh and cold black metal, and lifts the atmosphere a notch or 2 and makes the atmosphere and music seem very complete.

The metal part of the music is delivered really well and is cold and atmospheric with a good deal of epic moments. The guitar-play is good and effective, there are a few really good riffs that drag the listener into the atmosphere of the album and keeps it nailed. Cold and grim guitars and pounding and punishing drums, the drums are delivered by a drum-machine but are quite good and their light artificial sound fits the overall cold atmosphere of Arcane Necrosis' black metal. The music works greatly alone and induces a feeling of solitude, despair and longing. With the vocals loathing and hate enters the picture and adds a harsh grimness. The rasp is delivered with a lot of passion and force and enforces itself on the unaware listener, creates havoc and creates a higher unity.

There are many one-man bands that haunt our shores nowadays, and not all deliver the expected quality, as one sometimes hope for and request. Though Arcane Necrosis is one of the bands that deliver the goods, if you are into harsh and cold black metal with a good dose of dark ambient in the mix. The album demands somewhat a lot of the listener, emotion and attention wise and the album really grows with each listen. The first couple of times I listened to it, it didn't really catch me, now I can’t let go of the haunting tunes on this disc. It might be too late to get this little gem, as the release is limited to 150 copies, but note the band Arcane Necrosis, it is something to get into, if the above makes something inside you tick and have sparked some curiosity.

Rating: 8½/10

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