Shade Empire - Omega Arcane
This LP is somewhat of a departure from this band’s earlier works. Previously, Finland’s Shade Empire was more straight-forward Melodic Black/Death Metal with keyboards, sporting something of an Industrial edge, owing mostly to the “human doing his level best to sound like a drum machine” percussion. That was before. Now, the band has decided to instead focus more on the atmospheric and symphonic elements that they’ve always had, putting additional emphasis on the keyboards. The music is much more orchestral this time around, having a sound resembling a Death Metal version of Cradle of Filth or Dimmu Borgir. The keyboard parts, while always prominent before, have gone beyond providing basic atmosphere. They’ve become more complex and layered. That goes for everything else the band does, too. The guitar playing is also more intricate and melodic compared to Shade Empire’s previous output. After going back and researching their older material, it’s almost shocking to see how different Omega Arcane is in comparison. If you want to know what the distinction is between Atmospheric Death Metal and Symphonic Death Metal, all you have to do is listen to any of Shade Empire’s previous releases and then listen to this album. The old stuff was Atmospheric Death Metal. This is Symphonic Death Metal. This is some seriously epic music. While I liked this band’s previous material, Omega Arcane is my favorite LP by a wide margin. I don’t know how much further these guys can push their sound, but I’m definitely down to see where they go next.
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