THE ARCANE ORDER - Distortions from Cosmogony

THE ARCANE ORDER

Album: Distortions from Cosmogony

Genre: Extreme Metal

Release Date: June 9th, 2023

Country: Denmark

Label: Black Lion Records

Band Links: WEBSITE / BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER / FACEBOOK

Danish extreme metal act THE ARCANE ORDER are back with their fourth record, which will be unleashed on June 9th via Black Lion Records, and tells the story of mankind’s eternal existential conflict between autonomy and submission. With the addition of Kim Song Sternkopf (Møl) behind the mic and bass player Anders Frodo S. Mikkelsen to the line-up, that also sees Bastian Thusgaard (Soilwork) on drums as well as double guitar powerhouse Flemming C. Lund and Kasper Kirkegaard (HateSphere), the band impressively managed to further evolve their style on "Distortions from Cosmogony".

The ten tracks are all fast paced and highly technical, pushed forward by the pummeling drums and hard-hitting bass. Epic guitar work and a well-placed background orchestration build a massive soundscape, on which Kim lays his relentless, expressive growls and screams. Even though there are some lighter moments in between, coming along in form of a virtuoso guitar solo here or a melodious keyboard part there, most of the album is very gloomy.

Lyrically, they use classics from Greek mythology to transfer mankind’s search for meaning and the pursuit of achieving influence on its own destiny into our current times, as for one of my favorites: "Cry of Olympus’". Other highlights would be "Starvations for Elysium" and "Favors for Significance", that are absolutely mind blowing.

While the first impression of "Distortions from Cosmogony" immediately woke my interest, it nevertheless took me several spins to really get into it, as the music is highly complex, yet accessible at some point. Sometimes, THE ARCANE ORDER feel a bit like the impetuous brother of Darkane and Disillusion to me, being as brutal and mighty in sound, just a bit less detailed and varied, but all-together, they deliver a beast of an album. Highly recommended to crank it up!

Written by Katha