Band

When bands tend to take other bands and use them as influences it can be bad or good. When it comes to Anael’s material for instance their previous works those were acceptable but now onto their latest installment “From Arcan Fires,” they’ve just copied and pasted a whole band because this time their material sounds nothing like them. Anael have taken those influences and thrown them into sounding a lot like Samael’s style. It goes down a branch of occult black metal to say the least sinking deeper and deeper into the occult world. Comparatively speaking, the band’s earlier material fired lightning bolts when balanced against the molasses drenched stretches presented here. The stride is deliberately drowsy, and four of seven tunes clock in at 10-minutes or more, so those without a patient ear should probably leave this well-enough alone. The overall mood is undoubtedly bleak, and the record’s musty production serves well by adding a rather fitting “sallow hue” to the overall evil climate cooked up here. “From Arcane Fires,” deals with more issues than just one, because the songs are simply too long. The instruments used on this album benefits greatly from an added guitarist contributing measures of snaky, tendriled leads, or perhaps some added instrumental variation to help spice up many of the more expansive passages. Just before the 7-minute mark of “Song of the Moth” we hear the tiniest evidence of what sounds like a squeezebox buried in the background, and it actually seems to fit wonderfully. This is exactly the sort of creativity that should be explored more in depth for future endeavors if they decide to continue down a similar path. The drumming is in desperate need of complexity as well, because their time spent on each song dreads. In the end “From Arcane Fires,” is one to pass on.