Arctic Plateau – The Enemy Inside (2012)

Delivering a hefty dose of excellent guitar work, today we have Arctic Plateau and their dreamy masterpiece “The Enemy Inside”. Gianluca Divirgilio, the man behind Arctic Plateau has a great sense of melody and through his Post-rock/shoegaze compositions delivers waves of emotions in a way that only a handful of bands can do.

Opening with the ethereal “Music’s Like…”, this song, as most of the ones in this release, is very guitar centric and with every passing minute there is something exciting to pay attention to. The dreamy atmosphere is top notch and the melancholic vocals nicely roundup this song. The mood in the album constantly changes between dreamy and ethereal to dark and depressive, like on “Idiot Adult”. In this somber song, Gianluca does a great job in using Shoegaze elements to create a magical atmosphere.

With a more dynamic pace “Abuse”, “Catarctic Cartoons”, and “Big Fake Brother” keep the album flowing very effectively while switching back and forth between sad and happy moods. Our favorite tracks “The Enemy Inside” and “Melancholy is Not Only for Soldiers” delivers very emotional vocal performances and excellent guitar work with some brilliant drumming to keep things together. These songs are very depressive (at least for us) and nicely contribute to the overall atmosphere of this release.

The more experimental an atmospheric pieces like “Wrong” showcase the band’s ability to create uniquely different songs that nicely fit into the whole flow of the album without obstructing it. Just before this release is over, “Trentasette” is the most ‘Metal’ track of the album with some similarities to songs by Les Discrets and similar bands. The simple and straightforward distorted guitars are very nicely contrasted by the dreamy Post-rock/Shoegaze sections that are crafted into the song structure.

Featuring 11 brilliant tracks, we have to say that “The Enemy Inside” is a must have release for any Post-Rock/Shoegaze fan in the world. While there are almost none Metal elements, this release has enough ethereal guitars and magical atmospheres to have you entertained for a while. If you like bands like EF, Tides of Nebula, and God is an Astronaut, then you should definitely give Arctic Plateau a chance.

Release: February 17th, 2012

Country: Italy