Review Summary: Flawed to perfection
The Prog scene seems to be thriving in this day and age. 2024 saw releases from many of the best in the business, including Opeth And Steven Wilson. Yet as great as their outputs were, can it be called "pushing the boundaries" for what the genre represents? Truth is that Prog has been somewhat stagnant in it's capacity to evolve, with the deeply maligned "Djent" being one of the newer ventures of the genre. But what if the opposite direction was to be taken?
The Arcane Insignia is a New York City act comprised of Composer / multi-instrumentalist Lodrö Nyima and cellist Noah Heau. Releasing their first album "A Flawed Design" to almost no recognition, the band announced somewhat of a hiatus when the global pandemic started. However, during this time, Lodrö's girlfriend passed away in a tragic accident, leading the frontman to reconsider his relationship to material he was planning on releasing as the follow-up to their first album. Despite the dramatic backstory and everything that went into the making of this album, the question remains: is it relevant in this day and age of Prog?
The answer of course is: it depends.
For the patient listener, it is clear that both musicians poured their heart and soul into the composition of these pieces. They have a nice flow, shift dynamically right before overstaying their welcome and the concept angle of having the first 5 songs be closely connected to their Prog Metal / Djent influences ("Violent") and the final 5 songs to their Classical / ballads style ("Whisper") is a nice touch that adds extra depth. There is good chemistry between Nyima and Heau, with the latter delivering gorgeous cello harmonies with a chaotic (and at times erratic) execution. Yet it's impossible to not talk about the album further without addressing the elephant in the room: These guys present themselves as Prog Metal, but only play acoustic instruments. Can they avoid being typecast as nothing more than a niche act?
Truth be told, "Acoustic Metal" is a term loosely thrown that 9 out of 10 times comes across as incorrect at best, arrogant at worst. Yet The Arcane Insignia seem to have an ace up their sleeve: their songwriting.
Although the instrumentation is impossible to ignore (particularly in the sections where Nyima executes harsh vocals and growls) the songs do not feel dependent on the gimmick. The parts are cohesive and beautifully paced for the casual Prog nerd to enjoy. Having said that, there are inevitable details that prevent this album from reaching it's full potential. In the immortal words of Peter Griffin, the album "insists upon itself", with over an hour of runtime and elongated instrumental passages that although beautifully delivered, could have benefitted from being more condensed.
Then of course, is Lodrö Nyima's voice.
To call his voice "polarizing" or "an acquired taste" would be an understatement. It reminds of Spencer Sotello (of Periphery's fame) in the "you either tolerate it or detest it to hell" department. He certainly tries to put all his passion and pain into the execution, but it's obvious his chops are not up to par with his ability to compose interesting vocal parts, with some of the biggest vocal highlights being the previously mentioned harsh vocals and screams, which fit the sections and motifs wonderfully and keep the material from veering too close to Neo-Classical territory.
All in all, The Arcane Insignia released a collection of songs that can pay handsomely if you give it multiple spins and can overlook some of the glaring shortcomings throughout, "A Violent Whisper" is definitely worth checking out if you enjoy the likes of Pain of Salvation, Anathema and Musk Ox.
