Arakain

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S.O.S (Remastered 2024)

40 - O2 universum (Live O2 Universum)

Apage Satanas

severzhavnost, November 6th, 2013

I suppose it's possible these Czechs hadn't heard Sepultura's album of the same name, still being somewhat hidden behind the collapsing Iron Curtain. And that's okay, because there isn't much similar here. What Sep's second full-length offers in rawness, deathliness, and innumerable riffs blended into one crazed whole; Arakain's sophomore outing counters with instrumental and vocal clarity and melodic consistency. "Schizofrenie" lives up to its name less than the Brazilian classic. It is however, a masterpiece in its own right.

Put aside that this album's title is a misnomer. Fine, it doesn't come across as the product of mentally anguished personalities. As an example of focused, technically brilliant musical composition though, it excels! Let's start with the band's most notable signature. I don't know what it is with Czech metal singers, and their tendency to use atypical voices for their genre. (Look at the guys from Root and Master's Hammer for other examples.) Here, Aleš Brichta places himself squarely in that trend. He ranges from a gruff, almost strained hoarseness to a much smoother flow and achieves both styles in convincing fashion.

In the rougher singing category the buildup sequence of "Teror" shows Brichta's most throat-shredding unconventional delivery. Alternating verses of "Zla Křídla Osameni" also bring out the most forceful side of his voice. Elsewhere he's mostly in between the edgy and smooth extremes of his range. Of the latter, his catchiest vocal lines are the choruses of "Rekni a Mas Me" and "Gilotina". This more traditional singing especially lines up with Jirka and Mirek's guitar style very well.

Fans of Agent Steel and of Australia's Nothing Sacred will rejoice in Arakain's heavy-melodic sound. It's more abrasive than the power-leaning side of speed metal, while at the same time less choppy than usual thrash. "Iluzorium" for one, starts with a long complex riff that brings to mind Iron Maiden's first longer epic "Phantom of the Opera". Then on the other, thrashier speed metal end of things, you have "Antikrist", which hits like Running Wild's "March On" mated to some early Destruction. Then there's the instrumental "Sedma pečeť": much more energetic than Metallica's wandering thrash opuses! Great stuff all around in the lead department. Something to please everyone.

The rhythm section is easily up to the task of underpinning this dazzling array of guitar work. The bass begins "Osameni" by introducing the lead riff note-for-note. I've always loved that tactic! You'll also hear bass standing out at surprising points in "Strážci Času", with some unexpected quick fills squeezed in where you wouldn't think any bassist could make the time. Drum patterns exhibit an equal level of variety, both in speed and sound. Some great rolls help to launch "Iluzorium". Machine-gun speed fans will get their best kicks from the bookends of the album.

A couple small issues could have been improved, on this otherwise exemplary album. First is a slight excess of material that borders on filler territory. "Kamennej Andel" and "Hibernatus" don't add much. They're not bad songs, but would fit better with some other, bog-standard thrash album than they do with the uniqueness displayed by Arakain. The only other concern is that the kettle drum sometimes comes out sounding too hollow and that can be distracting. But it is generally well-mixed enough as to be overlooked.

"Schizofrenie" waits until the very end to bring out the tortured-mind screaming you might expect. Up to that point, they took what you thought, at first impression, would be a personal soul-searching album and went in a totally different direction. This is good friendly violent fun, from a creative band of thrashers who love what they do, and ought to make you do the same.

Schizofrenie

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