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Arcturon - An Old Storm Brewing
Label: Supreme Chaos Records Release: 2013 Style: Melodic Death Metal Tracklist 1.An Old Storm Brewing, 2. The Deafening, 3. In Lockstep, 4. Feeding The Giant 5. If Chaos Rides, 6. Tides, 7. One With The Blue, 8. Where Memories Tar The Road 9. Vision, 10. Isolation, 11. This Is The Plan
The Swiss melodic death metal band Arcturon from Reigoldswil, Canton of Basel-Country released their second album "An Old Storm Brewing" in 2013 by German record label Supreme Chaos Records. It was recorded with Swedish producer Jonas Kjellgren at Abyss Studios in the village of Pärlby, Sweden. Thomas Plec Johansson handled the mastering process and Emil Nyström was responsible for the cover artwork. I like the picture with the woman in the middle of a storm surrounded by leaves. On this record the quartet with singer Aljosha Gasser, guitarist Florian Moritz, bassist Sam Fischer and drummer Sam Fischer from the canton of Basel-Country dedicates itself to melodic death metal with Swedish influences a la Dark Tranquility. The band tries to avoid the normal schemes and adds keyboards to set their own accents and stand out from the crowd. On the second song, "The Deafening," this comes across well. The keyboards aren’t playfully outlandish, nor do they trigger electronic sound effects, but rather blend into the mood. Fantastic video clips were produced for the songs "The Lockstep" and "This Is The Plan". In "If The Chaos Rides" a string insert gives the song an orchestral touch. Reinventing the genre of Melodic Death Metal is difficult from my point of view, because groups like In Flames, Dark Tranquility or Soilwork have set the bar very high. That's why I won't write a negative review here, because the mood of "An Old Storm Brewing" grabs me and there are some highlights like "An Old Storm Brewing", "The Deafening" and "In Lockstep". Besides, the guys are masters of their craft and provide excitement. They toured with Rotting Christ and performed at the Summer Breeze Festival in Dinkelsbühl, Germany. In 2014, the EP "Expect Us" followed. They also made a contribution to the Eurovision Song Contest. In 2018 the group was disbanded. 7/12 Review by Dominic Latscha