Arhat is a Groove Metal band from Ukraine, that was conceived in 2017. On May 31st, 2024, the band released their independent second studio album, Secrets of Ancient Gods.
Introduction:
Arhat, Secrets of Ancient Gods: This review will evaluate every aspect of the album, from its intricate musical composition to its production. Our analysis will provide valuable insights to help you determine if this album is worth adding to your collection.
The First Three Sins of Secrets of Ancient Gods
Let’s start by discussing the first three sins of Arhat and their Secrets of Ancient Gods album.
The First Sin, The Strings/Keys: Features pulsing grooves with brutal riffs, frequent breakdowns, and down-picking riffs. The Second Sin, The Vocals: Involve guttural growling with an expression and some pig squeals. The Third Sin—The Percussions: Intense and relentless assault of the drums, with strikes and fills.
The Fourth Sin: Overall Discussion: Takes the listener into the world of ancient gods and mysterious rituals
As soon as the listener presses play, the opening piece, Intro, greets them with a Middle Eastern soundscape. This element is a musical choice and a deliberate attempt to transport them to ancient times, setting the stage for the album’s exploration of ancient gods and mysterious rituals.
The second piece, Abyss of Flame, and the other eight pieces embark the listener on a musical journey and a gateway into the world of ancient gods and mysterious rituals, reflecting the profound wisdom of ancient civilisations.
Each composition is a mystery and magic tapestry woven with sophisticated melodies and epic arrangements. The album’s recording incorporates Turkish ney, sitar, percussion, and cinematic sound design, seamlessly blending symphonic orchestrations with ethnic elements, creating an intriguing and exhilarating musical experience. At the same time, as the listener delves deeper into the music, the listener will encounter a unique fusion of groove metal, fast ethnic extreme metal, death, and thrash metal.
The album features captivating and skillfully crafted songwriting, showcasing the band’s devilmanship in creating intense and powerful music.
It features frequent tempo changes and incorporates various musical elements, including aggressive riffs, breakdowns, down-picking riffs, intense drumming, and deep-throaty vocals with occasional pig squeals, all enveloped in a Middle Eastern ambience.
Oleksiy‘s vocals on Secrets of Ancient Gods are a standout feature, surpassing their debut release, Dead Life (2020). His vocal performance on this album is a testament to his growth, particularly his ability to deliver powerful growls that evoke strong emotions. This evolution in his vocal style adds a new dynamic to the band’s sound, further enriching the album’s musical depth.
Secrets of Ancient God‘s exceptional production quality offers a sonically rich, weighty, and polished listening experience. The meticulous attention to detail in the mixing and mastering process is evident, enhancing the overall impact of the music and assuring the audience of the band’s commitment to delivering a high-quality musical experience.
The album’s powerful and groove-driven sound will resonate with Lamb of God and DevilDriver fans.
The album comes to an end with the last song, Shlyah do Prozrinnya. We want to give a shoutout to Arhat for letting us review their Secrets of Ancient album. Now, we’re going to wrap it up by talking about the final three sins and concluding the review.
You’re Listening to “Nasha Khoda Nevpynna”
PlayThe Last Three Sins
Let’s discuss the last three sins, our thoughts on Arhat and their Secrets of Ancient Gods album.
The Fifth Sin, The Memorabilia: Is that for us, Secrets Of Ancient Gods is a dynamic fruit of art. It melds the robust elements of groove metal with intricate and forward-thinking progressive concepts, adding a distinctive and enriching dimension to the band’s overall performance and devilmanship.
Although groove metal is not my cup of tea, a groove metal band has to be the grooviest and heaviest in their musical spectrum. Secrets of Ancient Gods have provided this, and, more importantly, that Middle Eastern atmosphere captured in their music just did for me.
The Sixth Sin, The Artwork:
The artwork looks cool; for me, it has that more heavy thrash vibe of Iced Earth and European power metal Helloween concept feel and look. End of the day, the artwork captures the theme and atmosphere of the music.
The Seventh Sin, Disrelish:
Nothing to disrelish within the musical spectrum of Arhat, and their album Secrets of Ancient Gods.
This concludes the Arhat, Secrets of Ancient Gods review.
Track-Listing:
- Intro (instrumental)
- Abyss of Flame
- Karnak
- Arcana XVI
- Nasha Khoda Nevpynna
- Symbols
- Path Eternal
- Wheel of Fate
- The Great Unknown
- Shlyah do Prozrinnya
Arhat is:
- Anton Inov – bass
- Ivan Semenchuk – drums
- Anton Skrebov – guitars
- Oleksiy Sitkoff – vocals
