With heavy melodies, great solos and amazing guitar lines, the compositions are solid, and reveal a very experienced band, secure of what they’re doing. Never underestimating their talent and musical capacities, they create an intriguing style of their own, exponentially authentic, that relies on the major force of their trustworthy objectives. Although in some songs black metal elements predominate a little, nevertheless, they match black and death metal perfectly for the most part – without becoming what is usually called blackened death metal –, as they play with a lot of components from other genres as well, showing a formidable compromise with anyone, except with the solidification of their own peculiar style.
Rapid rhythms and fast guitars predominate all the way through, although their music does present a more technical aspect in its multifaceted layers, in several passages. With a complex musical ordeal that reveals excellent musicians firmly compromised at creating and executing the best songs possible, Arctic Sunrise reveals itself as a major musical work, that perfectly matches the most traditional elements of metal with new and audacious possibilities, without fear of innovating, in a more embellished and polished musical panel, but always maintaining the basic precepts and the core of true metal. And – although the entire album is good – special mention goes to the last two songs on this marvelous record: Vengeance In Blood and Fuck Off And Die (Metal is Forever). I promise these two extremely amazing tracks will definitely blow up your mind, in such an astounding way, that you never have experienced in your life before.
An interesting record, that certainly has everything to captivate the most ardent enthusiasts of the genre, Arctic Sunrise is a major album. Approaching metal in a brilliantly experimental manner, and effectively doing a mixture of different subgenres, adding new colors to it without losing the essence, Spectral proves why they are a relevant energy on the scene, and will remain as such, as long as they live.
Wagner