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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