Album Review: Arcane Roots - Melancholia Hymns (2017)
Time again for my album of the week. Recently I've been finding it difficult to tear myself away from Jamie Lenman's Devolver and after hearing that album my expectations are sky high. However, a few weeks back I heard a review of Arcane Roots' latest effort Melancholia Hymns on the That's Not Metal podcast so I finally decided to give it a listen. I'm unfamiliar with Arcane Roots' previous work so I went in without any particular expectations other than the impressions gleaned from the aforementioned podcast.
Slow burner Before Me sets the scene with a soaring electronic soundscape which gently builds and builds, adding dreamlike vocals and pounding drums before trailing back off to nothing. There's no real payoff within this song itself but it acts as more of a setup for the next track Matter.
Matter ups the ante by introducing more up-tempo post-hardcore leanings including screaming vocals and raging guitars over a synth backdrop. Needless to say I like this song a lot.
Indigo changes tact and goes full on synth-pop with a much more radio-friendly aesthetic. The song is highly layered but at various points everything is stripped back to the bare minimum before reigniting again and again.
Off the Floor has the most guitar driven opening so far and ultimately combines the dreamy synths, high-pitched vocals and hardcore guitars of previous songs to great dramatic effect.
After the beautiful chaos of Off the Floor, Curtains dials it right back to nothing with slow falsetto vocals and lonely keyboards before layering in the synths and drums until it eventually explodes into raging guitar riffs and searing vocal screams.
Solemn has the least unusual opening of any song so far with more traditional sounding guitars and drums but eventually the sweeping synths fire up and a whining, bending guitar riff kicks in with pepperings of hardcore screams thrown in for good measure.
Arp changes things up once again, opening with blinking synths followed by those dreamy falsetto vocals before the layers start to build and build. There is no sign of any guitars until the last minute of the song where a chunky metal riff kicks in closely followed by the most hardcore scream yet (which only lasts for about 5 seconds) as it concludes.
The next song Fireflies is more akin to album opener Before Me and eschews any hardcore leanings and screaming for just the soaring synths, electronics and sweeping vocals.
Everything (All at once) quite literally throws in everything all at once with pounding drums, guitars and synths right from the get go. The last minute of this song goes all out metal and is a real highlight.
Final track Half the World is an epic conclusion to an epic album and combines most of the elements that came before although a lack of the more hardcore elements in such a long song was somewhat disappointing.
Overall this is a very well put together album and an engrossing listen from start to finish. It does open slowly and takes a while to get into but after a couple of listens I found myself drawn in by the layered soundscapes and I found that the hardcore moments really pay off when they arrive.
Give Melancholia Hymns a chance and you might be pleasantly surprised by what you find. I know I was.
Melancholia Hymns is available to stream now from all the usual outlets and you can get your hands on a physical copy from the Arcane Roots website below.
