Arceye – At First Light (2013)

Any album that has more than one wolf in the cover has the potential of being amazingly great or total shit. Luckily for us, “At First Light” is one hell of an interesting release spawning from the UK. Arceye delivers in their sophomore full-length album ten tracks of very intriguing Thrash infused Death Metal with hearty melodic elements. If you like dynamic music that keeps you guessing from start to finish, this is one release you don’t want to miss.

The band starts pounding away with a very catchy melodic passage at the opening of the album title track. As the guitar solos appear we immediately see a 180 degree switch into old-school Thrash Metal in the vein of Kreator and similar bands. Tracks like “The Storm” have that cool modern Death Metal vibe with a retro flair to them, making the band quite versatile while retaining their own signature style.

With extremely powerful tracks like “I Silently Wait”, but the bands musical skills really shine with instrumentals like “Sirius”. Bordering more in the Technical/Melodic Death Metal real, “Brother Disarmed” and “Prey Forgiveness” deliver waves of punishing riffs and excellent melodic sections. The combination of melodic sections and Thrash assaults works wonders for Arceye, and they are not ashamed of using them a lot through the release.

Our favorite track is the melodic masterpiece “Damage Done”, a very engaging song that is very epic in nature and features excellent clean vocals and dramatic guitar work. This track reminded us a bit of a more relaxed Dark Tranquility. As one would think that the band would close this album with more punishing brutality, they suddenly change tempos during “The Thirst” allowing this song to take a very unique turn and grab your attention even more.

As “At First Light” comes to a close with the instrumental “Dusk”, we are left wondering how an amazing band like this could not have more exposure. Arceye delivers heaps of great ideas with a solid musical core. While some people might think that their expansive sound is not well defined and thus not ready for mass approval, we think that this element is what makes them unique and sets them apart.

Label: Hostile Media

Release: August 7th, 2013

Genre: Thrash/Melodic Death Metal

Country: UK