Arkadia
Unrelenting

“Losing the will to leave” is what the singer of this band sings in one of the songs, why would anyone lose the will to leave, is the place all of a sudden turning so much better or the weather outside is turning bad. Or it is just a case of accent; it was quite easy to deduce that the band was from Finland by hearing the accent of the singer. The band Arkadia is a quartet from Alavus in Finland, they were founded in 2003 and has released a few demos or EPs before but this is their debut album that they have given the name Unrelenting and has a quite uninteresting cover artwork.

The band is said to be inspired by NWOBHM and the modern Scandinavian death metal scene with the latter being the style they are conforming to. They make melodic death metal of the Scandinavian type, catchy and very strong sense of melody, not overly heavy. The vocals are pretty typical of the style, nothing that stands out. In fact, there isn’t much (other than the opening quote) that does stand out from the mainstream when it comes to this band. Their riffs seems borrowed, the songs all build on the tried and tested methods that has been around in this genre since the pioneers where involving melodic riffs and similar stuff into the more brutal music of the metal genre. There is nothing that makes you stop in your stride and take notice, but they do offer a competent production that will probably appeal to those that are nostalgic about the genre.

I am not overly impressed, but sure, they are neither good nor bad but the opening part of the first track is very good. I think that we can overall conclude that this album doesn’t really add anything of value to the genre, at least not anything that we haven’t already heard before. This is music that will only appeal to those already madly into this kind of music; I think there is just too much déjà vu to really make me take notice. What more can I really say about it? The easy way is to say that it will most likely drown in the mainstream as it has no real force that will be able to take it from there.

The opening part of the first song is good, but the rest of the album doesn’t grab me at all. Sure it isn’t a bad album but neither is it good which means that it will be one of those albums that will just be forgotten as soon as it is put aside for the next album that is to be reviewed which is just about now. Unrelentingly bland, that is another thing one can say about Arkadia and their debut album, they need a lot more fresh ideas and individuality if they want to have a higher rating in this webzine. Better luck next time is a good way to end.

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