The Arcane Order's thrashy-death stylings are enjoyable, but not mindblowing
Of all the Scandinavian countries, Denmark has never quite been able to produce as many quality or even decent bands in comparison to neighbour's Norway and Sweden, and I have often wondered why. With the release of The Arcane Order's debut 'The Machinery of Oblivion', at least some more light will be shed on what this country has to offer us!
On the whole what the album shows is a highly competent, technical and polished take on the thrash-inspired death genre, an approach which doesn't really throw up any noticeable flaws but then again doesn't really offer anything that new or exciting either. Tracks like 'The Superior Collision' and 'The Sanity Insane' certainly offer their thrills, it's just that it isn't something we've not heard before in a myriad of other bands. Song writing aside, the performance of the band, particularly guitarist Flemming C. Lund is pretty much spot-on for what they are aiming to achieve, and whilst the performance doesn't exactly blow your mind, it does leave you satisfied.
One thing that does add an element of interest to The Arcane Order's is the use of background synths and keyboard such as the ever-loved 'blip blop bleep' sounds heard in opening track 'Infinite Ghost Anathema' which add a very definite hook to what was already a good song. Unfortunately the use of these elements was few and far between, which was undoubtedly a shame as they really did add something special and if the band were to add a full-time keyboardist to their thrash sound I can really see them becoming something quite entertaining indeed.
Overall this is a decent, not amazing or standout mind you, album. The band have clearly put in the time and effort since their rather recent inception of 2005 into their song writing, presentation and production and as the old saying goes, you reap what you sow. This isn't the most memorable of albums, but then again on the other hand it still is a good 45 minutes of entertainment and that's all you can ask for in the end.