FRESH, FAST EURO METAL FROM THE ARCANE ORDER

Denmark’s The Arcane Order bring pummeling, fast Euro metal filtered through a thrash, black, and melodeath sensibility. The riffs are heavy as fuck and there are plenty of relentless double-bass blasts, but keyboards slice through the madness like a knife through butter that’s been sitting out for too long, often dominating the mix in the best way possible (the butter is on both sides of the bread? OK, I promise I’m done with that metaphor now). The drums, guitar and vocals combine for a cacophony of sonic chaos, but that’s not to say there’s no melody. Even when the band decides to let their melodic side show, there’s no clean singing or cheesy choruses here (read: nothing even resembling metalcore). The band’s two guitarists bring some deliciously artful solos as well.

The Arcane Order end up sounding like a faster, more furious, more melodic, more epic, better version of their fellow countrymen in Mnemic. There may be a lot of bands combining the above influences, but The Arcane Order’s perspective is a fresh one.

-VN