Arcana – Inner Pale Sun (Album – Cyclic Law)
Genre/Influences: Dark-ambient, cinematographic, neo-classic.
Format: Digital, CD, Vinyl.
Background/Info: “Inner Pale sun” was the fourth full length album released by Arcana. The original edit was released in 2002 on the great Cold Meat Industry. It also was the last Arcana full length released on CMI. Cyclic Law continues to re-releasing the band’s back catalogue, “Inner Pale Sun” being now available for the very first time on vinyl and featuring an extra song.
Content: This work brings us back to the most creative and successful years of this unique formation. The work will for sure appeal to fans of Dead Can Dance, but globally speaking Arcana sounds darker and especially more obscure. Some tracks are clearly mixing dark-ambient and even ritual music together, creating a kind of mystic sphere. Peter Pettersson’s (later named Peter Bjärgö) deep timbre of voice also is a specificity of Arcana’s work while the female chants and voices by Ann-Mari Thim injected an extra mysterious touch on top of the work.
+ + + : It’s hard to say, which Arcana album is my favorite one, but “Inner Pale Sun” definitely belongs to the best works ever released by this Swedish master. The atmosphere hanging over the work is simply unique; it feels a bit like it gets you in its grip. The bombast and epic arrangements are just sublime while at the other side, like a contradiction, the songs have been accomplished with subtle sound arrangements. You find a similar contrast –although it rather appears to be complementary, in the male-and female vocals. The album has something magic and that’s also because of the use of acoustic instruments like the dulcimer. But the best is yet to come as the bonus track entitled “Body Of Sin” (only featured on the CD and digital format) appears to be the best cut from the work. Next to the mystic sphere of the song, there also is a great neo-folk guitar running through it.
– – – : I’m not always convinced by revisiting the back catalogue of a band, but I have to admit it’s an opportunity to rediscover treasures from the past.
Conclusion: “Inner Pale Sun” definitely is an essential album in the Arcana discography.
Best songs: “Body Of Sin”, “My Cold Sea”, “Lovelorn”, “Icons”, “Closure”.
Rate: (8½).
Artist: www.erebusodora.net/arcana /
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