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Arkaik: Reflections within dissonance
03/01/12 || The Duff
I recently reviewed Psycroptic’s “Symbols of Failure” to say that tech-death is a real tough sub-genre to crack; despite it being my favourite style of music, most indulge in the excess far too much for my liking. Arkaik are based in America, where most of such bands hail from – The Faceless, Beneath the Massacre, Braindrill; these bands clearly have heaps of talent, but when it comes to choosing between the catchy, groove-set nature of Psycroptic against arpeggios rapid-firing out of my anus, I’ll take the downgraded tech thanks. Yeah, this day and age fucken Psycroptic are downgraded tech.
Arkaik are a fair bit like the aforementioned bands but actually write true death metal amidst the sickly fluid, wacky Cynic on cocaine leads – riffs and flashiness combine to form songs with a beginning, middle and an end. Their core sound is clearly brutal death metal, and in many ways this record reminds me of Severed Savior’s most recent effort “Servile Insurrection”; basically, if you were disappointed with Decrepit Birth’s last album because of shoddy songwriting and second-rate death metal riffs, “Reflections Within Dissonance” is for you.
The album opens with Spawn of Possession’s “In My Own Greed”-esque cleans but for the simpleton; it’s clear these guys aren’t Jonas Bryssling, but they have their influences and wear them proudly. Most of the music is like a cross between Decrepit Birth’s “… And Time Begins”, Origin and bands more recent like Odious Mortem, mixing a fair number of insanely fast lead harmonies, tremolo barrages, traditional BDM breakdowns with occasional flourishes (fundamentally the first three frets of any instrument plus some tapping exercises) and per track one or two real meaty, memorable riffs that make Arkaik stick out from the regular tech death clique. The production is what recent Odious Mortem have strived for in that blend of dry, crunchy, clear and cutting, a lot of low end despite the bass retaining that non-invasive, prog-death feel to it; real fitting if only on the inanimate side.
“Reflections Within Dissonance” will take some time to absorb; it’s not exactly subtle being delivered at the speed of an oncoming freight train, but the precision and compositional tact is something else while somehow rarely coming across as self-indulgent. Unfortunately, the pay-off isn’t nearly as grand as with Anata, Psycroptic or Spawn of Possession, and I think this is because of the album’s brutal death metal nature. It’s simply too much of too much, in my mind, putting this on par with “Servile Insurrection” although more complete tonally and of less variation – a worthy album in the tech death roster, simply a chore to digest, repetitive and in the end likely to be forgotten months down the line.
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Unique Leader Records
- Website: Arkaik MySpace
- Band
- Jared Christianson: vocals
- Craig Peters: guitars, vocals
- Chance Strickland: guitars
- Eric Cohen: bass, vocals
- Keith Roylance: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. The Transcendent Spectral Path
- 02. Reflections Within Dissonance
- 03. Paradigm
- 04. Obscured Luminosity
- 05. Womb Of Perception
- 06. The Divine Manifestation
- 07. Malignant Ignorance
- 08. Elemental Synthesis
- 09. Elegy for the Disillusioned
- 10. Face Of Regression
