Review : ARKAIK – “Reflections Within Dissonance”

Arkaik – Reflections Within Dissonance
released February 9, 2010 on Unique Leader Records

When searching for adjectives to describe this band, ‘archaic’ certainly does not come to mind. The furthest this band reaches is to previous-generation heavyweights like Suffocation, but their execution and ethos seem similar to West Coast neighbors, The Faceless. Both bands even commissioned Par Oloffson for their artwork!

If you are in the mood to unearth hidden melodies from a relentless barrage of technical death metal, Arkaik would work for you; sometimes they are a bit obtuse, and listening itself becomes a chore. But they remember important factors to keep things interesting, like the fact that they have a talented bassist in Eric Cohen. He is given time to shine here and there, but I liked his additions to “Obscured Luminosity” and the interplay on album closer “Face of Regression” best of all. Cohen also provides half of the backing vocals, with the other half coming from lead guitarist Craig Peters, who never gives too flashy a solo – get in, slay, get out.

The lyrics are well-written by Arkaik‘s second guitarist Chance Strickland, and sound like the result of a psychedelic vision quest. It is unfortunate that the booklet printing was badly laid out, resulting in text loss on the middle creases. But all in all, an impressive debut of decidedly modern metal.

1 is an intro
FCC : 3
Try 2, 4, 5, 6, 10

01. The Transcendent Spectral Path
02. Reflections Within Dissonance
03. Paradigm
04. Obscured Luminosity
05. Womb Of Perception
06. The Divine Manifestation
07. Malignant Ignorance
08. Elemental Synthesis
09. Elegy For The Disillusioned
10. Face Of Regression

Rating : 3.5/5