Arckanum
Kampen
[Necropolis]
Apparently Shamatae felt the need to add five minutes of drab and boring
sound effects onto the first song, to create some atmosphere. He failed
miserably, and instead I am stuck with pressing the "FF" button
every time I want to listen to the first song. No matter though, that is
just a small problem.
This is really no better than previous releases though. Even though I am
discovering more and more interesting moments on this disc, it doesn't
stand out as a mass improvement. I quite enjoy it when I can pick up a
CD from a band I've heard before, and find that they've excelled in
every category available to improve on. As a matter of fact, this disc
is filled with "flashbacks", since some moments sound VERY similar to
moments found on the first two discs.
Overall, it is a fair listen. "Kostogher" really impressed me, and this
is quite similar, but the "certain something" has been lost, since it's
just SO similar to his other material. No surprises really lie within
the lengthy seventy-two (!) minutes of this disc. I quite enjoyed the
first track "Kamps Tekn", simply because it's quite grim sounding, and
the melodies are paired off with some good clean singing. Arkanum may
also have a new member (?), since the promo photo that comes with the
promo CD show someone standing behind Shaamatae. Perhaps this is the
same person doing the clean vocals? They seem to sound male in some
sections, in female in others…so this is a mystery to me.
This could very well be the best Arckanum disc yet. It's really
difficult to tell though, simply because it's so similar in most
aspects. Overall, I would recommend picking this release up though. It's
especially pleasing listening to the disc at loud volumes, mainly due to
the more venomous production style shown here. And Shamaatae is a fine
producer of raw and passionate metal.
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