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Blog Categories Review Arcanum Sanctum – Ad Astra - Reviewed By North From Northern

Arcanum Sanctum – Ad Astra - Reviewed By North From Northern Monday September 21 2020, 12:00 AM

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Arcanum Sanctum – Ad Astra - Reviewed By North From Northern! Check it out here at this link: https://northfromnorthern.wordpress.com/2020/09/21/review-arcanum-sanctum-ad-astra/

Arcanum Sanctum are hailing from Russia and this is their brand new record. These guys play epic, melodic death metal with sci-fi themed songs, kinda like themselves say, soundtrack to the Soviet era sf movie. In fact, the guys remind me a lot of mixture between Amon Amarth and old school In Flames. There are 8 songs on this record, with Wanderers In Space being kind of intro to the rest of the material. The riffs are fantastic, hooks are epic and catchy, although the atmosphere of the songs really is cold, like void and nothingness of the cold stars in space. The drumming is not to fast, there are not lots of blasting parts, the groove is kind of constant in the song structures. The vocals are guttural and growling, but you can understand most of what is being sung, so that is another plus. This is a good one for all you melodeath fans, nothing new or groundbreaking, but decent melodic death with a touch of science fiction.

Recommended songs: Pack Rat, Ad Astra, Solaris

7,5/10

Russian melodic death metal band with Soviet sci-fi movie soundtrack approach. After two well-received albums of catchy uptempo melodic thrash-death metal with traditional harsh vocals the band decides to step aside from the beaten path and explore new grounds.This exploration turns into a breathtaking journey through space and time. The band finds its inexhaustible source of inspiration in the past. It's not a secret that things we encounter as kids leave the deepest traces in our souls. By a twist of fate all members of ARCANUM SANCTUM were born at the end of a so-called Golden Age of Space exploration and caught its echoes in a form of sci-fi books, movies, cartoons and associated soundtracks popular in their childhood. Still exciting and inspiring for the band, this theme determines the new direction its music takes on the new album.

For fans of Dark Tranquility, Amorphis, Omnium Gatherum

Formed back in 2004 in Komsomolsk-on-Amur (the Far East of Russia) as a brainchild of Vadim Nalivaiko , ARCANUM SANCTUM have remained the adepts of melodic death metal throughout the years. With the debut recorded using a trial-and-error method in their home studio due to the absence of any more or less professional recording studios in the city the guys reach satisfactory level of quality. Actually, “ Fidus Achates ” – the debut album of ARCANUM SANCTUM finished in January of 2009 – is the most proficient metal record made in their region back then. On this almost completely Russian-language album (except for one song –
“ Shadowed ”) released by MORE HATE PROD . in 2010 and warmly welcomed by fans and the press (Surprise of the month at www.metalreviews.com in August of 2010) the band takes traditional melodic death metal to heart and combines this sound with elements of technical thrash metal and contrasting deep melodic instrumentals – as stated by the press the dynamic switch between aggressive melodic death metal and both acoustic and keyboard instrumentals is this album’s most captivating aspect.

Having no stable line-up yet inspired by warm reception of the debut, Vadim decides to focus on composing the new songs for the follow-up album. " Veritas Odium Parit " is released in December of 2012 by BUIL2KILL RECORDS under the auspices of the legends of technical death metal – SADIST (Italy). The album gets positive reviews worldwide. According to the musical critics, “ Veritas Odium Parit ” raises the band to a new level and proves its versatility and maturity – the songs are very melodic, complex and found the converging point of aggression and technique with progressive touch. Enthusiastic about the band’s progress, new members come on board even despite the 1150km distance between their hometown and the base-city of the band – as is the case with Nikolay Kondratyev (drums, FALLCIE , ex- DEHYDRATED ). With the new line-up ARCANUM SANCTUM participate in MADE IN KOREA metal festival ( Seoul, Republic of Korea ).

Soon after the band gets in touch with Mort prod. (China) and schedules a China tour for May- June of 2015. Along with playing shows in the Far Eastern region and preparing for the tour, Vadim develops a totally new album concept with a challenging approach to composing. After the China tour the musicians decide to focus on new material occasionally playing some local shows. The new album is dedicated to the Soviet science fiction with lyrics based on the works of the Soviet sci-fi writers and the music significantly influenced by the Soviet sci-fi movie soundtracks and such bands with progressive and non-trivial approach, like AMORPHIS and DARK TRANQUILLITY . The English language of the lyrics opens the worlds created behind the "Iron Curtain" to those who is not familiar with the Soviet school of sci-fi devoid of shopworn alien invaders and apocalyptic prophecies, while the deep and majestic growls and confident clean singing of the new vocalist Ivan Beschastny embody spiritual and physical strength of the men of future.

After a long, both physically and mentally demanding process of composing and recording the album is mixed and mastered at Unisound AB by the famous Dan Swanö . The CD titled “ Ad Astra ” is self-released by ARCANUM SANCTUM in summer of 2020.

Album art and track listing below!

Arcanum Sanctum Ad Astra coverart.png

1. Wanderers in Space 01:36
2. The Quest 04:39
3. Pack Rat 04:28
4. Down to Earth 03:06
5. Ad Astra 04:21
6. A Perfect Place (to Hide) 05:07
7. Solaris 04:00
8. Under the Alien Sky 05:07

ARCANUM SANCTUM.jpg