Arcana
Raspail

Arcana, as a rule, have never lacked formal and compositional perfection, always accustomed to the more robust and grounded sounds of atmospheric/medieval ambient. Nonetheless, one of their main problems has often been the right and balanced combination between solid composure and what a listener interested in this particular genre expects above all: emotional involvement.

This mix was excellently calibrated in some albums, such as the convincing "Inner Pale Sun", in which the limits imposed by the use of electronic/industrial music were abundantly overcome, namely the lack of real emotional impact and a certain static nature in the structure of the tracks.

However, this "Raspail" (2008), as expected, does not present any upheaval in the sound of our Swedes, but rather delves into its themes in a mature and professional manner, albeit with an approach tending towards stagnation. Indeed, what "Raspail" offers us is a refined tangle of dry beats and a mantle of desolate, dark, and arid melody that often seems quite detached and closed in on itself. Most tracks rely on wooden industrial pulses, enriched by keyboard crashes that at times become penetrating and monolithic ("Parisal"), at other times dark, wavering, and dusty ("Autumnal"; "In Remembrance").

The opening track "Abkrat" outlines in a few minutes the global essence of the album: there is virtually nothing ethereal and blurred among the systematic and minimal orchestrations that make "Raspail" a savage labyrinth of thorns and unease. Arcana seldom allow the listener to glimpse the elusive rays of the sun that pierce through the dense and relentless vegetation, vainly exhaling warm notes immediately suffocated by insistent claustrophobia ("Sigh of Relief").

"Raspail" freezes anyone who wants to venture into its rocky and secret crevices, is imprisoned in its mysteries inaccessible to us and its hidden emotions, leaves no room to breathe precisely because it seems to have none given its unnatural, soulless systematic nature, if not for the intervention of singers who make the scene more "human" with their druidic and arcane vocals, unfortunately distant and disinterested as well.

If you want to immerse yourself in the icy and inanimate sacredness that reigns supreme in this forest, forgotten by time, then good luck on your adventure. If you seek more picturesque and hospitable, as well as dreamy, places, you only have to listen to the radiant pallor of "Inner Pale Sun".