Arcane Manifestations

The gals and fellas at The Crawling Chaos records certainly love their music to be dark, chaotic and obscure, and with Beculted they found another act delivering exactly that kind of stuff. Consisting of three gentlemen and one lady doing the vocals this band has started life by releasing a live-album as their first recording. Now they have followed up with “Arcane Manifestations”, and while this one is tagged as an EP we get 37 minutes of playing time. Packed into only three tracks this is a pretty hefty dose to consume and a wild mixture of various styles and influences.

Things start of in a very doomy and sludgy way with slow buzzy chords and trippy harmonies. After a while the hysterically screaming voice by singer P. enters the stage and turns the overall of the music, followed by an outburst of classic black metal blasts. These kind of interchanging between slow and dragging passages and driving tremolo runs is continued and enhanced by strange elements and odd signature parts, adding up to a very intense and exhausting affair with the final product leaving the listener impressed and also confused. I personally think that Beculted are at their best whenever they let go and keep the tempo ad mid-pace, with the subtly haunting melodies perfectly fitting to the pounding rhythms, but others might think the other way round.

Each of the three songs is layered with textured melodies that speak of great emotional depths, while the anguished vocals lash out in pain and horror at an unjust world. They have kind of a strange flow while showing a keen understanding of atmosphere and of how to build mood and feeling. You can tell that a lot of time and care has gone into the shaping of the music and the band members have a clear intention of how their music should be witnessed by the world. The tracks and single sections are full of emotive texture, nuanced playing, engaging melody, and blackened atmospheric presence, being layered with many levels of musical depth and luscious instrumentation. Each track draws the listener in and wraps them in swathes of blackened doom and gorgeous melancholy.

Buried underneath dark distortion and the accumulated filth but omni-preset are grim melodies and splashes of more positive feelings. These add to the overall suffocating heaviness and atmosphere of the songs without being overbearing or stealing the limelight form the band’s unflinchingly bleak approach. The production suits the music perfectly and deserves praise. Heavy and thick, but also clear and diversified, offering the perfect combination of clarity and dirt. “Arcane Manifestations” is an interesting take on the genre and fans of the label should once again find something to like here, especially vinyl collectors in this case.