Album Review: Arhat - Dead Life (2020)
 |
| Picture Credit: Arhat Artwork: Dmytro Yurchenko |
Arhat - Dead Life
Release Date: December 23, 2020
Label: selfrelease
Format: Digital
Length: 43:13
Genre: Technical Death Metal / Groove Metal
Origin: Kyiv, Ukraine
"Dead Life" is the debut by Kyiv's Arhat which was released in late December of 2020. The band plays an intense mix of Tec Death and Groove Metal. But that is not all. "Dead Life" features influences from Oriental harmonies and Slavic tunes. Those musical impacts fit the theme of the album and its lyrics as vocalist Alex tells about history and mythology of the peoples of the Orient and Central Asia. The lyrics were written by Oleksandr Kharechko.
Outstanding feature on "Dead Life" are the drums by Dmytro "La De Vill" Sychov. Plenty of fills, changes in accentuation and accurate blasts are the havy backbone of Arhat's music. The rhythms get evn more interesting when percussionist Petro Pavlovsky joins in.
The bass by Anton Inov is not very present in the total soundscape. In some bridges you can hear the low tones but they unfortunately drown between the dominant sounds of guitar and drums.
The guitar by Anton Skrebov on the other hand can be heard very good and it is resposible for both, the heavy grooves and the progressive or technical attacks. Furthermore, Skrebov who wrote the music for "Dead Life", skillfully implements Oriental and Slavic melodies to the rough soundscape.
And finally, there are the vocals. Alex Sitkoff is a beast of a growler. His guttural screams sound like fountains of gore. In the songs 'Arhat' and 'Mantra' he is getting company from the stunning ethnic vocals by Kapshuk Kateryna, who really adds a lot to the atmosphere of this album.
On the surface, Arhat appear like a regular Groove and Tec Death band. But once, you listen actively, you can encounter the multi-layered beauty of this brachial Death Metal monster. If you're looking for some variety in your Death Metal library, I recommend you to add Arhat to it.
Arhat Online:
Facebook
Instagram
Bandcamp
SoundCloud
BandZone
HearNow
YouTube
Spotify
Comments
Post a Comment