Poema Arcanus
Arcane XIII (CD) 1999 Picoroco
This quality work from Poema Arcanus, a well-educated doom band hailing from a country as distant as Chili, smothers us with not less than 73 minutes of pure dark doom. There is not a trace of joy on this album, nor any glimpse of the sun; the night is long, dark and cold. The tempo is generally very low and the clear, deep vocals from Claudio Carrasco are even deeper than those of Peter Steele (Type O Negative). Mourning, low-tuned guitars shred the sky into pieces and the majestic, dark keyboards create a sacred atmosphere with a particular Chilean touch from those four gentlemen plus one lady. Furthermore, 'Arcane XIII' has a crystal-clear production and it should fit nicely in any doom collection. You can order this album for 20 US$ from Claudio Carrasco, PO Box 24, Santiago-43, Chili.	1. Nocturnal Blossom 2. Latent Eclipse 3. Consummatum Est 4. Vastness 5. Essence 6. Female Poison 7. Timeless Sands 8. R´lyeh 9. Ensoñación 10. Isolation 11. Winds of July 12. Desde el Umbral Approx. 73 minutes
Reviewed by: Kurt de Meulemeester (© Mindview) Translated by Kostas Panagiotou
Iconoclast (CD) 2002 Aftermath Music
Fans of My Dying Bride, Moonspell, Morgion and Novembers Doom, pay attention! Already with their previous album 'Arcane XIII', Chilean doomsters Poema Arcanus impressed us with a piece of art of quality doom music. This second album is the next step on the dark path these talented musicians have chosen. Whereas the guitar sound recalls distant memories from the crushing early My Dying Bride riffs, or the plain massive sound of Morgion, the thick layers of keyboards take this album to a slightly different genre. The voice of singer Claudio reminds me of the epic voice Fernando of Moonspell uses on the Irreligious album, yet is a bit more varied, especially towards the deeper vocal regions. Sporadically, he uses a grunt or scream to add to the haunting atmosphere created in a darker part. Most songs are rather slow to midtempo, without many tempo changes. Generally speaking, all songs are on an equal, high musical level, without real highlights popping up. Also the sound quality deserves praise. But, although there are some instrumental tracks and one track with only acoustic guitars and vocals ('Burnt'), there is only little variation over the album. This, in combination with a little bit of real inspiration and originality, is my only regret towards this album. This is a very solid release, that will please a lot of fans of the atmospheric/doom-death genre, showing the state of the art of this fine band, but it lacks that little spark to make it a real classic. All in all a welcome new album for the darker minds and most certainly a proof that South America should be counted in for doom too, which can be confirmed by the amazing demo release of fellow Chileans Mar de Grises.	1. Walls? 2. The Crawling Mirrors 3. Elegia 4. Chaman 5. Elixir 6. Iconoclast 7. She Burns Us 8. Rite 9. Distances 10. Impressions 11. Desintegracion 12. Burnt 13. And Thou Shall Obey Approx. 65 minutes
Reviewed by: Heiko Isselee