My discovery of the Swedish band Arcana a few years ago was a very important and moving experience for me. For years I had been searching for music in this vein, but prior to this I could only find music like this from video game soundtracks and movies. If you’re not familiar with Arcana they play a medieval darkwave like style of music that breathes beauty and etherealness.
When I hear this band I feel as if I’ve been taken back in the past to a medieval era full of darkness, yet still full of beauty and grandeur. The music is created with keyboards plus the addition of some percussion, and operatic like male and female vocals. The keyboards display a very dark and haunting feeling mixed with a medieval undercurrent throughout these eight songs. It’s bands like this that amaze me greatly, because every time I hear stuff like this I find it to be almost impossible to believe such music could be created with just keyboards. The absolute standouts on this release are ‘My Cold Sea,’ ‘We rise above,’ and the very despondent ‘Innocent Child.’
All together Arcana delivers a delightfully moving and haunted experience throughout these eight songs. If you’ve never heard music like this before then I strongly recommend it since this is some of the most breathtaking music these ears of mine have ever heard. And while you’re at it be sure to check out Ophelia’s Dream, Dargaard, and Weltenbrand.
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