ARCANA 13 - Danza Macabre

April 30, 2016, 7 years ago

(Aural Music)

Greg Pratt

Rating: 8.5

review heavy metal arcana 13

ARCANA 13 - Danza Macabre

Very cool album here from Italy's Arcana 13, a band that even Metal Archives knows little about; here's what I know about them: they're from Italy. That's about it, so in to this long album I wade, wondering how a band I am very unfamiliar with is going to hold my attention for 53 minutes on our first date. But damned if Arcana 13 don't take my “no long albums unless you're Neurosis” rule and make me rethink it at least briefly, this doom-y album a nice mix of fun, rockin', Sabbatherian doom (“Suspiria”) and more “spooky”, “see you at the sacrifice” occult rock sounds (“The Holy Cult Of Suicide”, although that rocks pretty hard and heavy too). 

They both work, the band taking all elements of their sound and just killing it, coming across like one of the more sincere post-Sabbath bands doing a Sabbath thing that I've, well, ever heard. Sounds like a huge statement, and it is, but there's a vibe here that others go nuts trying to recreate, a feeling that drips with sincerity and with a slight unease that doesn't sound contrived or forced in any way. Go listen to excellent closer “Hell Behind You” and wonder how this is on a label neither you or I have ever heard of in our lives; that won't be the case next time around, no doubt about it, as I hear lesser doom/occult-y bands every month on big metal labels. Doom fans, you must check this one out.



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