Review Summary: A chaotic piece of art painted with instrumental precision and framed with vocal passion, In The Wake of Collisions will leave you only wanting more of what The Arcane Order has to offer.
In a genre that varies so widely like melodic death metal, few times can a band capture a sound that is truly their own. In
In The Wake of Collisions, The Arcane Order provides a beautifully executed 50 minute journey through a melody driven utopia. As the album begins with an almost orchestral string introduction, the stage sets for something truly special. As the drums and guitar slowly join forces with the strings, the tempo picks up and the energy starts to flow. At the one minute mark, the vocals come in and the explosion of sound begins. After just under six and a half minutes, you already know that you're in for a very pleasant ride.
As the album progresses forward, it feels less like each song is its own and that each is part of a bigger picture. Each sounds similar overall, but packs plenty more than enough variety to distinguish themselves from one another. The vocals are aboslutely quality, each pitch is hit with near dead-on accuracy be it high, low, or that awkward in between. The guitars are the same way, following Thomsen's pitches in an almost mesmerizing fashion. The bass and keyboards subtly craft a stunning atmosphere and give the album a level of depth few can match inside or outside of the genre. The true merit of the band however, goes to the drummer. Displaying a breathtaking performance in both technicality and melodic sensability, drummer Sørensen is the real backbone of the album. Throughout the entire album, the drumming never once stumbles in quality and seems to just keep getting better. Each fill, each beat, every single strike of the drum is like a stroke of a brush breathing life into a piece of undiscovered art. Even in the instrumental track "When Oceans Become Deserts" he manages to provide shock and awe with a performance that can only be referred to as brilliant. Instrumentally, the band provides only slightly more than it does vocally, but both are certainly above adept. The sweeping guitar solos can occasionally feel slightly too familiar, and the keyboards sometimes feel as if they're being emphasized a dash too much, but other than that the instrumental half of the band gets two thumbs up. The vocals never feel out of place, but they fail to have many truly captivating moments. With a voice so powerful and so close to perfection it's difficult to believe, but with such incredible musicians behind providing more variety throughout songs it feels as if his own assortment of contribution is minutely lacking. The lyrics that the vocals are delivering however, are very good despite some minor clichés.
Overall,
In The Wake of Collisions was a truly enjoyable listen that I would recommend to any fan of the genre. The keyboards are very clearly present without often feeling too forced or ever out of place, and every other instrument is top notch. If any complaints exist at all, the guitarist seems to like sweeps a little bit too much and the vocalist can seem minisculy repetitive at times. In the end though, The Arcane Order has truly sculpted a work of melodic art that should be heard by all.
