Sear Bliss - The Arcane Odyssey
Candlelight

file under black/pagan metal

Roel de Haan: Sear Bliss returns with their new album ‘The Arcane Odyssey’. ‘Glory And Perdition’ already was a good album, with ‘The Arcane Odyssey’ they’ve really outdone themselves. This time they opted for a clearly more grim and dark approach with drawn out arrangements that often can be described as epic.

Luckily, the use of horns isn’t that obvious anymore but when used it truly adds something to the music. The keyboard has got an even more astral character now and provides a nice mood in which the raw melodic guitars are imbedded in and are expressed well. The tempo is relatively slow but the fine structures and riffs more than compensate this. Sear Bliss has made progression in every aspect compared to ‘Glory And Perdition’ and therefore is ‘The Arcane Odyssey’ a very good symphonic black metal album that wouldn’t look bad in your CD collection.

Rating: 85/100 (details)

http://www.searbliss.hu