CD Review: Arcade Messiah - III (Instrumental Metal, 2016)

Massive guitars - these words were left behind in my mind after listening to the newest effort of Arcade Messiah. John Bassett impressively shows how to present guitar wizardry in modern sounds to the audience these days.

The album cover for Arcade Messiah's "III", (c) by Arcade Messiah, used with kind permission

Summary
 
The longplayer simply entitled "III" is packed to the brim with beautiful and massive guitar sounds. If you adore such sounds the first three tracks, especially "Citadel" and "Revolver" will make you alone more than happy. You don't need to read further - go straight forward to Bandcamp and buy the record for a few bucks. You can't go wrong here.

For all others it should be mentioned that the album builds up the tonality to a absolute peak in the first three tracks. Afterwards the tension falls down a bit to give air for some more breathing to the atmosphere. Those two numbers that follow go with less massive sound and examine the fragileness of guitar sounds with softer music.

What else has changed since the last record? "III" is compared to the previous album a output that comes in a much thicker presentation. Everything has been outworked to sound heavy from the start. Most of all the drums speak out clearly to me. They are much more brutal and present than on "II". Even the bass shines more through on this album. In addition some vocals can be heard. They fit well and don't ruin the listening experience. 

It's the fun that winds down in your ears while listening to the album that makes it stand out from other releases. John Bassett plays a lot with themes and motives on this one and it's simply a calming and positive feeling those notes leave behind.

Purchase-Link and Album Player

Please appreciate those efforts with a purchase. These time no physical format can be offered since John Bassett moved his home while creating these tunes and decided to go a safe route finacially. But the digital plattform Bandcamp happily offers losless formats so you will have the same quality with the files than having a pressed CD.  Enjoy a preview in the player below.

Contact Data

The story of Arcade Messiah goes on! Make sure to follow the project through their homepage or use Facebook to do so.

Arcade Messiah previews new album III

Instrumental metal albums are a exciting sort of releases for me. Since they focus completly on the music they have to work differently to keep the interest of the listener. If you've ever experimented with sound snippets on your PC you surely know what I mean and how hard it is to fill just one minute with instrumental music that is something worth your time.

A new album of John Bassett's project Arcade Messiah is about to be unleashed this November. It's the third installment entiled "III" and we can finally catch some short snippets of the record in the player below. While listening to the music the video also reveals the artwork by Michael Kerbow. The pre-order phase starts November 10th 2016 on Bandcamp.

Make sure to follow the next steps of the project through Twitter or Facebook.

Arcade Messiah show Split Screen video of recording sessions

These days artists are going to start working on new records much faster than in older times. I can remember that you had to wait for new albums much longer back in the 80's/90's. The internet wasn't around like it is in present days so there was no way you could pick up a first glimpse into the record.

Sometimes print megazines made a visit at the recording studios of the bands if they were able to and could listen to a few snippets every here and there. You could read about their journey to those studios and what they thought about the new material in the next issue. Now these days bands often reach out early to the audience and let them have a look into the new record already in a preview stadium.

One of these previews that just came out is of the instrumental metal project Arcade Messiah. The latest record II came out by the end of November 2015, you can check out a detailed review of the album here at a blog post of mine. These days John Bassett has already begun working on album three.

This video shows how he experiments with "(...) a slightly fuzzier sound on the guitars, and a different chain of effects. " as he explains in the description underneath the video. The cool thing is that he presents the stuff step by step. Each segment has been added separately merged together in a  split screen video.

Don't miss out the further creation process of the new album and start following Arcade Messiah today through Facebook or take a look at the homepage from time to time.

CD Review: Arcade Messiah - II

Short Introduction

Arcade Messiah is a one-man instrumental metal music project from KingBathmat frontman John Bassett. It combines a mix of Metal/Post Rock/Stoner/Doom/Prog elements all together on one disc. The first album was released exactly one year ago and received a lot of positive feedback from fans all over the world.

John Bassett spoke to Prog Megazine about the resonace he received. He was surprised about the positive reactions so he decided to create a sequel. He further said that it's meant to be a sort of continuation of the first record but with the hope of being a better, bigger and more dramatic piece of music. The intention was to grow the music without losing the vibe and atmosphere of the original album. The next chapter in the history of Arcade Messiah is set for release on 22nd November 2015 via Bandcamp and then everywhere else on Nov 27 through Stereohead Records.

(c) by Arcade Messiah, used with kind permission

Summary / Player / Purchase-Link

Please bring some time to listen to the album properly. It comes with many layers of melody and variation in them that are ofter overwhelming on the first listen. But if you give them more spins you'll discover so many fine points that you'll wonder what you may've overheard the time before. 

The album is well worth some money. Currently the pre-order price is set at 0,99 GBP on Bandcamp until the release on 22nd of November 2015. Afterwards you'll be able to set the amount free of choice. Please give some bucks so independent and progressive music can continue to push on forward and offer all of us even more of these great musical journeys. It will take you out of your everyday life for a good amount on time and I remember having enjoyed every single minute of it.

If you decide to pick up a physical copy packed in a six panel digipack you'll be rewarded with a ninth track on the disc that add's a playing time of 19 additional minutes to your playing time. That track is something very special, all of you guys out there digging the long-tracks of progressive music will love this. It's like a never-ending epic.

The record will be released on 22nd November via Bandcamp. Currently a album preview is available for streaming as well as two full tracks. I've included the full songs at the Album-Overview section of the review. Here is the album-roundup to get a quick idea of the record:

Album-Overview (Track-by-track review)

Moon Signal: after a slow intro section the album starts with a high complexity. This is a well outworked piece of guitar work. It really needs a lot of time to get through all of the sections and comes in very rough. Don't let this hinder you. It's a rather heavy start to the album but the further tracks go in a bit easier.

Red Widow: More groove based progmetal. It's a breaker and positive "push-it-forward-track". Complex yet very fitting drums and guitar shred on this one. Rough sections follow cleaner parts and surprisingly some total soft-toned notes see the light towards the last third of the song. They lead over to a very dirstorted part with crushing guitars all over. The end comes fast and abrupt.

Black Dice Maze: The song starts out as a beautifull ballad with clean and pure guitars. The drums fit very well to this starting a soft rhythm. Drastically it all changes and a lot of roughness comes rushing in. This goes over to a typical prometal riff and finally unfolds into some more rough crushing and edgy guitar sound giving it all a more complex and hard sound structure. The next move goes back to the progmetal style and comes around clearer and in a more compact style. The end comes in very climatic and dramatic before the whole soundsphere collapses and goes back to some soft notes but not in the same style as at the beginning.

Gallows Way: A clear and calling sound speaks out of the guitar. Is there someone out there? This creates a very spheric and haunting atmosphere. I often wonder why some of the roughest records include hard tracks but at the same time there are these soft pearls in there as well. Those give you freezing chills. This is one of those shining diamonds. It doesn't last long but maybe you'll remember it as long in your mind as I did... The slightly distorted ending builds a crossing to the next track.

(c) by John Bassett, used wth kind permission

Fourth Quarter: A fine mixture of rougher and silker soundscapes can be found in this one. Held in a typical progressive style it's slightly hard but with a very warm and melodic tonality to it. Beautiful melodies can be found a lot in here.
It's like walking through a garderen that offers so many flowers to see. A intensive journey through what instrumental progressive music can offer in all of it's variations, diversity and complexity.

Via Occulta: A short intermission. Clear guitar notes flying around. The drums catch them up and form a little jam-alike atmosphere.

Read the Sky: A highly complex track. It get's back to the rough style. Held in a midtempo the track evolves around the main riff and comes with a lot of distortion. Inside of the storm you'll find a eye of melody that shine through. The darkest and hardest track of the album in my ears.

Start Missing Everyone: Spacy sounds start this one.But once that is gone sheer power takes over. A compact closing point. A good ending point for all people taking the download edition.

The Four Horsemen (CD-only-track): A catchy start to the epic with soft yet ever-changing guitar sounds and rhythm patterns. It evolves even further to a powerfull guitar bloom but not so heavily distorted as "Read the sky". It comes to a first peak towards nearly the half of the track and goes over to a somewhat ghostly spheric intermission just to come back with fresh power before going back in the softer mode and back to power again. The chilling and dreamingly sphere is present on the vast majority of the next track section before heavyness comes rushing back in. The drumming is most complex on this song. Lot's of variations and drum fills. The end set's a last mark on heavyness leaving me in the hope that we'll hear more of this great musician in the future.