Review Summary: crushing, atmospheric, epic.
Tenue’s progression over the span of seven years has been immense. Each release since their scrappy and raw demo has been a very clear step up from the last as the band continues to approach heavier and darker territory. Aside from the pure visceral weight that they’ve put on, the band have also been expanding upon their ideas, fine tuning the atmosphere, and gradually producing longer and more progressive song structures. This ethos met it’s logical conclusion in 2021 with the release of
Territorios, a single twenty-nine minute long neocrust epic, and now, instead of continuing to push the time envelope,
Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos finds the band whittling their grand ideas down to what feels like
only the best parts. This still results in some long songs, mind you. Opening track “Inquietude” takes the cake, sitting at a healthy nine minutes, but it’s one of the most dynamic and action packed nine minute screamo songs I’ve ever heard. It doesn’t waste any time sweeping you off your feet either. A lone trumpet sings wistfully over bright and gentle strums of the guitar, reverberated cries begin to erupt, bass and drums slowly roll their way into position, and then—without even a warning shot—the band explodes into action. Scorched hardcore riffs and d-beats pummel away under a string of black metal tremolos before the band drives head first into an atmospheric river of octave chords. This all happens in the first two minutes, and the dynamic shifts only continue to evolve from here.
Despite the pendulum often swinging between similar modes of expression, actual repetition is used sparingly, and it feels triumphant when it happens. In “Distracción”, a freight train of palm mutes and arpeggiated panic notes build into excruciating tension before dropping us off a cliff into a sleepy bossa nova lounge. It feels like a brief alternate reality elevator ride before the doors re-open to a wall of hellfire, but it also echoes back to the album intro and reminds us that these five songs, while thematically distinct, are still connected by a single winding narrative.
Arcos, bóvedas, pórticos is simply a magnificent ride from start to finish, with no discernible weaknesses. The Spanish vocals are raw and emotive, the riffs are punishing, and the tight, polished production job makes the atmospheric post-rock sections feel like columns of light breaking through the storm clouds. It's beautiful, it's crushing, it's intense. It's Tenue's most accomplished album to date, and you should listen to it now.
