On their sixth full-length, Sweden's Arcana leaves behind ancient Western ruins and cathedrals for Arabian deserts filled with magic and mysticism. The sound of the Middle East flows through this amazing album, taking Arcana to a higher dimension, exploring new melodies and realms. This is Arcana as you have never heard them before! With their lush blend of spirituality and earthly emotions, Arcana has always been compared to Dead Can Dance. Now they boldly ventures into the hot desert, breathing life from the baking sun and the serpent's dance. Enveloping the listener in a powerful rhythmic sensuality, one feels the sands slowly begin to swirl, twilight falls across the dunes and in the distance perhaps a lonely nomad's fire burns... just beyond it's reach, one can make out the subtle movements of a great red serpent... edging ever closer...
R**N
Favorite Random Mix!
Bought this album, along with This Morn Omina's "The Drake Equation (Ecf)" and "Le Serpent Blanc, Le Serpent Rouge," and also the soundtrack from the Pedro Almodovar film "The Skin I Live In" -- I ended up putting all 4 in one playlist, for convenience sake, and it is one of my absolute favorite random mix playlists! Mostly energetic electronica, industrial, and dance music, with the occasional slow or somber piece thrown in, it both energizes and relaxes me. Love getting lost in the mix of the music...
W**N
Relax and sway
I had met one of the members of this band on an art site and decided to check it out. It's a very well put together and relaxing complilation. I really wanted an older CD by them but I'm very glad I got this one.I play it when I'm cleaning, going to bed, driving and more. I'll say this cd is calm, relaxing and dare I say..SEXY!Enjoy!
N**H
moody
I like this very much. it is consistant and it flows well one song to the next. the music is deep and intense.
M**E
Arcana
What's not to like?? Anything by Arcana is great. If you Like Enigma and Magna Canta, you will like them
M**H
First-Rate Arcana, with a warning
This is possibly my favorite Arcana album. Arcana has always been known for creating a melancholy, epic neoclassical sound, and is one of the flagship artists of the excellent Cold Meat Industry label. If you found yourself on this page you probably already know that, but the reason i mention it is that this album is very different from all the others. This feel of this album reminds of the middle east, with waves of heat creating ocean mirages across the vast unending dry desert. The imagery is not unlike that of Peter Gabriel's soundtrack for the movie Passion: The Last Temptation Of Christ.It begins with In Search Of The Divine, one of Arcana's most ambient pieces, sounding like the cry of some ancient forsaken mummy. Very haunting, and one of my favorites from the album. From there the album picks up with the title track, using traditional middle eastern percussion and instrumentation. This tune sets the pace for the rest of the album, which all use similar instrumentation to transport you into the heart of the desert (or your living room home theater setup, whatever :)). Perhaps the biggest fault in the album is how similar the feel is for most of the tunes. I personally don't mind it so much, as often i'll put this on without really devoting my full attention to it, but I still would have liked to see a bit more variety thoughout the album.One important thing to note is the vast improvement of production on this album! I don't know if it's just my ears or what, but this album sounds so much richer and fuller than most of their stuff, which is sometimes plagued with a bit of an "artificial" sound... On this album, the sounds are very organic and feel much more "alive" when compared with past albums. This is probably the main reason i consider it my favorite Arcana album. Sure, it's not as melodic, and sure, it's maybe they "lost" the epic neoclassical feel they had, but i am VERY glad they took the turn to explore this middle eastern sound. Not that i'd wish them to continue with it herein, but simply because it proves the mind of Peter Bjargo (didn't it used to be Peter Petersson? Did he change his name? I guess i should know my facts a bit better hehe...) is not one dimensional, and he's willing to explore other areas rather than repeat what's already been achieved. Of course, his martial industrial project Sophia very well proves this anyway, but I hadn't expected an album like this from Arcana. Highly reccomended album for those into dark ambient or neoclassical music, and essential for the Arcana fan.
S**N
Ever heard of Dead Can Dance?
I'm a huge fan of Arcana and I own all of their recordings. I was very excited that they'd come out with a new CD. This CD is nothing like any of their previous music. Gone are the kettle drums, church bells, and Gregorian chant-like vocals. This new CD sounds extremely similar to Dead Can Dance. Although I am a Dead Can Dance fan and own all of their recordings as well, I've grown rather bored with their sound and was disappointed to see Arcana emulating a style that's been around for over two decades and is on it's way out, in my humble opinion.Still, if you've never heard Dead Can Dance before and aren't burned out on the whole middle-eastern, belly dance, street bazaar, ambient thing, then this may be just the CD for you. In typical Arcana style, it is well produced and is filled with great musical imagery.
J**A
Evolution
Well, this will be a short review; first of all, this is a very good album: excellent artwork, production and atmosphere. However this stuff is very different compared to their previous works. If you're waiting for a Medieval feeling, you're not going to find it here. Think about Dead Can Dance or Rajna, with their 'indian' touch and their ethnic and haunting sounds. Not original at all, but quite interesting.The best: perfect for an astral journey.The worst: very homogeneous.
A**O
ARCANA 's music
This cd of Mystic, godly Music is fantabulousArmenian duduk, egyptian Cymbals (they were used in Rome also in honour of Goddess Isis), percussion make this work precious, very enchanting, very meditative and bright. It seems to take part to an ancient pagan feast in Rome or Egypt.SUPERBRAVO ARCANA
P**O
Hypnotic etnogothic..... enchanting music.
Hypnotic etnogothic.....enchanting music.
O**C
Hypnotische Percussions - minimalistische Klang-Collagen
Sehr ungewöhnliches Album, auch für Arcana! Sphärisch, abgehoben, transzendental, hypnotisch dominierende Percussionarbeit, fast jeglicher Melodieführung beraubt, vokale Solostimmen fehlen fast völlig, die Vokalparts werden mehr als gleichberechtigtes instrumentales Element im Gesamtkonstrukt verwendet, also eher als chorale Klangmalerei.Für mich ein wunderschönes Album zum schweben, träumen, fallen lassen, mißbrauchen lassen ;-) einzelne Titel zu bewerten bringt wenig, da man das Album in seiner Gesamtheit durchhören sollte, manche Titel sind wirklich nur reine Klanglandschaften ohne näher zu definierende Melodik.Ist natürlich letztendlich Geschmackssache, bestimmt nicht wenige werden in den heutigen hektischen NewPop-Zeiten ein solches dermaßen entspanntes Album als "langweilig" bezeichnen. Kann man nichts machen, für mich aber tatsächlich ein Destillat aus den bestechenden musikalischen Bestandteilen von DeadcanDance ohne die dort vorherrschende Vokalarbeit...Für mich fast 5 Punkte, aber kleiner Abzug da die ein oder andere hypnotische Melodie doch etwas öfters hätte Einzug finden können .....;-)
