Arcane Sun

Arcane Sun's debut release cannot be discussed without two other outputs: Fifth Dominion's Towards Elysium and Arcane Sun's Eden Eclipsed. A short comparison of the track lists reveals the reasons for this.

Fifth Dominion – Towards Elysium
1. Canto I (The Search)
2. Canto II (The Arrival)
3. Sundrenched (Beneath the Skies We Sought)
4. The Promise (A Culmination in Sorrow)

Arcane Sun – Eden Eclipsed
1. I Was Alive Then...
2. Your Name
3. The Promise (A Culmination in Sorrow)

Arcane Sun – Arcane Sun
1. Canto I (The Search)
2. I Was Alive Then...
3. Sundrenched (Beneath the Very Skies We Sought)
4. Avatar
5. We Stood with Time
6. Your Name
7. Canto II (Arrival, and Submergence)
8. And the Waters Were Like Wine
9. Longing for Eden's Rain (and Winter's End)
10. Promised (So Many Years Have Passed)

As can be seen, this first major instalment of the Irish band is at least in some part a compilation of older material. A bit of an hypothesis: judging from the peculiar way of merging the two demos together, the material belonging to Fifth Dominion (1, 3, 7, 10 [renamed]) gives the idea of laying the basis, the foundation, while the rest had been squeezed in between. These pillars hold all together, while the rest fills the gap and presents the pleasantries. The necessary heaviness and aggressiveness on the one side, which represents the old days and history of the band. Whereas the rest reveals the progression and the evolution of the musicians as well as the band/s; the modern instalment of their way of seeing their kind of music, so to speak. It is a strange juxtaposition of facets. Especially as these do not come over as a coherent and conclusive picture. Back in the days when Arcane Sun came out, reviewers pointed to the first track as not fitting to the rest of the art. While this is most certainly true and listener are even encouraged to start the album with the second track, it is necessary to remember that the reasons for this 'misfit' have to do with the overall conception of the debut. The schizophrenia inherent in this release does not end there … it actually starts at that point and follows it through until the very end.

For the recording the band returned to the Poppyhill Studios in Kildare, but this time Willy Hayden was responsible for the recording and the mixing. Somehow it is nice to hear the band will a proper sound for once. Each of the preceding demos had been rather wanting in this regard. Not only the aspect of balancing had been an issue, also the overall sound left something to desire. It never really felt that the various instalments of the bands were actually able to present their art in a proper way. Sadly, even on the debut there are some small nuisances and flaws; the cymbals, the bass-guitar and also the voice are by no means optimal. However, compared with all outputs prior to this one, a huge step in the right direction can be dotted down.

From what has been outlined above it can be fathomed that this release covers a rather large area of various musical conceptions. In fact, at maximum intensity the music heads for a mixture between black/death metal, while the minimum would be some calm version of folk/ambient. This large contrast adds a schizophrenic touch to this CD. Recall how uncertain the musicians had been over the years in terms of a conceptual direction and to what degree each of the outputs presented the music with new as well as surprising facets. It never felt that they were repeating themselves. Progression and evolution always occurred on a distinct level. Even on their first major output the band does not shy away from this tendency. To be extreme seems to have been a driving factor over all the years the musicians had been active together. On Arcane Sun this can be best examined by a listening to the tracks “Sundrenched (Beneath the Very Skies We Sought)” and “We Stood with Time” in a row. Surprisingly, the keyboards from the previous demos – first as merely an instrument to create some interludes, then allowed to accompany the guitars – have mostly vanished and only on vague, nearly negligible levels they make an reappearance. The debut presents the Arcane Sun with a very basic set of instruments, while the music itself is anything but ordinary.
While we are at discussion differences, the tracks from the previous release have seen a rearranging for the debut. Especially the last track “Promised (So Many Years Have Passed)” astounds with its overall lack of guitars, heaviness and aggressiveness. Similar to the opener “Canto I (The Search)” the vocals are now some kind of unintelligible whispering with the result that it is nearly impossible to understand something of the texts; the contrary was the case in the early editions. Especially the latter aspect is a welcome change though, because the clean singing voice is anything but convincing on the demo – not on the whole but at times.

The schizophrenic aspect has not been dealt with in its entirety though. While the music is the main focus of course, the lyrics need to be discussed as well. As outlined in an interview for the “Fitted Kitchen of the Living Damned” magazine (no. #2) “Towards Elysium” has a coherent narrative in terms of the lyrics, while the succeeding demo “Eden Eclipsed” lacks it. At this point the issue of the compilation should be brought up again and as can be seen from the track list, the order of the original tracks has been changed. Therefore, while the older compositions can be pointed towards as pillars for the general direction of Arcane Sun, this has received a disruption and it is not possible to ameliorate this aspect on the debut. It seems odd that the band ignored this issue. Was it not possible to merge the previously un-/released compositions in between? Was the topic already exhausted with these four piece of music and had the band been unable to imagine something that could continue the earlier line of thought? And finally, why was it even necessary to rip these tracks apart?

(the following came to light after the main part of the review had been written:
The four tracks from FD's Towards Elysium mark one segment; "I was alive then" and "Your Name" from the 1996 Eden Eclipsed is another one, while a third appears on the debut: Avatar, We Stood with Time, And the Waters Were Like Wine & Longing for Eden's Rain (and Winter's End). The order to the last one is unknown and not explained in detail in the interview.
Source: http://www.underground-empire.de/mags/UE-MM011.HTM#16)

It is therefore not only the music itself that is likely to raise some eyebrows, also the texts offer anything but a conclusive picture. Fragments have been merged together, but as the album is praised considerably – back then and still today – it might be necessary to ask whether the debut had ever been placed into a broader context or whether it had only been portrayed as a single decontextualized entity. Even though this is more of an speculation, the latter point seems to have some amount of validity, which is hard to refute. A lot of reviews on this album are available on numerous sites throughout the Internet, but aside from some general bewilderment or confusion about the direction of the band or a criticism of the breadth of the musical concept, nothing else is brought up.

Yet all this should not discourage anyone from listening, experiencing and (definitely) enjoying the performance of the Irish band. It is difficult to point to one single outstanding characteristic … maybe they all together create this special atmosphere. Some will point to the wide range in the vocals, whose facets include death metal growls, black metal screams, whispering and clean singing – even in a timbre rather uncommon for most extreme metal bands. Especially the latter leaves a very positive impression, because through this rather emotional and personal way of expressing the lyrics they receive an additional emphasis and colour. Death and black metal bands rarely reach out for such elements in their music, and even in the so-called “pagan” realm such facets are by no means common. Add to this the exotic status being a band from Ireland – the home of various delicious types of beer and some famous type of making music – then you have a mixture that is definitely able to gather some attention. Remember, merely a bit more than a handful of full-length metal albums had seen the light of day until the end of 1998 – ignoring Thin Lizzy again.
Arcane Sun is not an ordinary metal release. It breaks with the conventional way of approaching this genre and for a debut release it is of such a daring quality and conception that one simply has to admire the band for actually pulling this stunt. Even though two terms are generally associated with the band – doom and death metal –, these do by no means cover the musical facets in their entirety or help to make things clear. The combination of these two genre descriptors point all too often in the direction of a peculiar type of metal: mostly slow but with bursts or dominant aspects of death metal. Arcane Sun does not fit into this scheme. Also the atmosphere is different and the Irish musicians do rarely offer something comparable. Maybe it is even possible to describe the music as uplifting melancholy. There is no intense depressive touch to the performance, because the vocals help to break out of this dark mood somehow. Engaging could be a proper term in this regard. Somehow Arcane Sun wants to move the listener on an emotional level, maybe even go as far as to start a some kind of thought process. Today in the depressive black metal scene – and maybe even in terms of the funeral doom one – it seems to be the other way around. You cannot pity the musicians because they do never give you the means or chance to do so. The communication comes through metaphors, whose construction leaves open some kind of interpretation; especially in terms of the overall narrative.

The name of the band is a curious thing by itself. I do not have an interview at hand that would present a definite explanation in this regard, but it can at least be surmised that the last demo of Fifth Dominion – Towards Elysium – and the in it expressed topics had an impact or can be traced as the sole source. Whatever this inspiration had been, the starting point is merely of secondary importance. The first would be the intention of expressing something and putting the band in a certain context – without further sourcing some reference to paganism can be put forth. The texts are rather introspective though and do not overtly reach out to some mystical surrounding being, sphere or other metaphysical element. Nevertheless, the “arcane sun” can be understood as a fetish for the longings of a person. None of the lyrics give away too much … a lot remains mysterious. Some hints can be found in the track “We Stood with Time”.

How to judge and have a final opinion on such a release. I own it since it came out and have listened to it over the course of years occasionally, but even after all this time it is a tricky thing to put the impressions gained from this piece of art has into words. As outlined in the paragraphs above, there is something schizophrenic about this output and these aspects appear on various levels. The following should not be understood as an excuse, but it sums up a lot of the history back succinctly and rather neatly: L’art pour l’art.

Arcane Sun's debut is a potpourri of ideas thrown together, something that exists for its own sake and reflects the progression of the band over the years quite neatly: a steady and continuous evolution but never reaching a definite and characteristic sound or concept. Evolution and a breaking out of the barriers of their own cultural environment. How wonderful the sun seems to be from below the surface of our small dust ball. The Arcane Sun is a place unreachable, a concept impossible to boil down and how strange it is that the band had to call it quits so soon thereafter. Like Icarus they reached for the sky but were brought down on the earth ground all too soon again. It would have been interesting to hear the next chapter of their story … their “sundrenched” wanderings.

Fade is an incomplete album … and nothing more.

Available here:
http://irish-metal.bandcamp.com/album/arcane-sun-arcane-sun-1998

Part of a series, which presents the bands prior to Arcane Sun and all of their respective releases.
Can be found in the ‘A dead spot of light (Number 21)’:
http://www.archive.org/details/ADeadSpotOfLight...Number21

Probably not too many people have heard of Ireland's Arcane Sun. This is definitely one of my favorite CDs at the moment, recommended by someone on another board. Unforunately this is the only full length CD ever relased by this vastly underrated band before they split up. The CD starts off with Canto I, which begins with a galloping thrashy chugging rhythm slowly fading in, with atmospheric leads soon joining in over it. Then it breaks down to the slow dirgy main riff of the song when the vocals kick in. This song is one of the strongest on the CD, and an excellent opener, as it is fairly hard all the way through. Most of the rest of the tracks also feature slower mellow passages with clean vocals. The interchanging of heavier passages with growled vocals and softer passages with clean vocals reminds me of Opeth. In fact, I would describe the band's sound as a mixture of Opeth and doom metal. Track 5, We Stood With Time, is quite different in that it is simply piano with clean vocals, and some keyboards added for atmosphere; no drums, bass, or guitar. Surprisingly, it fits in well with the rest of the album, despite being so inherently different. The next song, Canto II is heavy, slow, and dirgy again at the beginning. This song also has a cool Middle Easten flavored riff in the middle, and even briefly speeds up to a fast riff and blast beats towards the middle, only to switch into an acoustic passage at about 5:00. A very diverese song, but it all flows together seemlessly. Overall, this a great CD.