Review by Alex on June 25, 2019.

At this point I’m not even surprised to discover a band making exceptional blackened heavy metal whose name I have never encountered until now. Black Rock; these blackened Finish metallers have 3 full length releases all of which I had to visit after being hit by the rocking bombastic fury of Arcane Remorseless. This is the kind of black metal that cocoons itself within the domain of the earliest first wave of black metal; Venom, Bathory, Hellhammer and Celtic Frost. The kind of metal you would expect to find only available on a limited supply of cassettes, the kind of black metal that you imagine being made in a garage at 12pm midnight. Rugged, ballsy and spitting like a tooth is missing. Arcane Remorseless sounds like the name would; a dirty, unapologetic thunderous blow from the hammer of the 1st wave black metal era, the genre in its trvest, cvltest form. Apocalyptic themes pelt from the mouth of vocalist and rhythmic weapon wielder T.Willberg while M. Vehmaa’s destructive and dolorous drumming ushers in the end of this forsaken species; like hitmen with axes and spears contracted to impale and truncate. This is how I prefer to hear first wave black metal, and how could I forget the production that sounds like it was recorded entirely in analogue, and fittingly so. 

Many have come and gone since Hellhammer ect, but hardly any can carry the burning wick without trouble of endangering the ancient tablature. Black Rock, aptly named, summons a beefy, cloudy, vibrantly-dark and at times doomy (Bedemon styled) series of straight forward guitar and drum lacerations backed by Tom G. Warrior-esque vocals. The execution of these characteristics creates a problem of sorts, in that they can’t be compared to modern bands, at least not any I’m aware of, rather they can only be placed within the same era of Bathory, Venom etc.… It’s weird because at first listen my initial thoughts were that Arcane Remorseless possessed the attributes of black metal in the early 80s, so for me to give comparisons to current day releases would be unfair. However, I can’t and certainly will not rank them against the titans that molded the genre, but for what it is, Arcane Remorseless deserves an unchallenged position within the modern era in spite of how old and dusty the recordings on here are. 

‘War that Ends All’ gives a definite idea of what’s to be expected on Arcane Remorseless with its steady groove, heavy bass, and embryonic thrashing. ‘Ancient Hatred’ follows the same path but speeds things up a tad bit with some double bass, whilst ‘Silent  Screams’ folds its fists in an almost war metal fashion with maintained tempo but rearranged thrashing drum patterns. The occasional “UHH!” is delivered with Tom G. Warrior-esque bravado and the primitive musical mangling continues. ‘Arcane Remorseless’ introduces the doom metal and gives the temples a rest from frenzied headbanging in-wake of some soporific nodding; then it’s back to restless catchy grooves, with ‘Colossal Tyrant’ leading the way to the main event; ‘Macabre Collapse’. And before you can recite your pitiful fucking prayers; the end has come. 

After my time with this doomsday gem, I was compelled to sojourn Return Through Ages and I was just as delighted as I am when listening to Arcane Remorseless. Finland is for me the capital of quality metal. And the list of excellence continues to grow within that territory. Still can’t believe Black Rock is unsigned, the injustices of the underground continue to baffle me. For those on the hunt for metal within this vein, pick up a copy of this ancestral pillaging of humanity, Arcane Remorseless either on cd/digital through Black Rock’s Bandcamp page or Unpure Records if the cassettes have not yet been sold out.

Rating: 8.2 out of 10                                   

Review by Tobias on March 16, 2001.

Cydonia’s self titled debut is an entertaining start for this Labyrinth/Vision Divine descendent. While founder and vocalist Dan Keying’s vision of a progressive power-metal band isn’t that original and lacks diversity among the tracks, it certainly is a great exposure of the hallowed double-bass.

The drumming speed on almost all of the tracks is more than a little impressive for a power-metal band; it’s pleasingly surprising. However, at times it doesn’t seem to fit in with the rest of the band, particularly the vocals. Let me give you an idea here; put James LeBrie of Dream Theater singing his little love fairy tunes together with Cryptopsy’s skin-beater, Flo Mounier, in all his fury… and you have something that doesn’t really match up. Well, it’s not that bad… or weird (however you want to look at it), but you get the idea. It needs some work.

The other strength for Cydonia is concept. For those of you who don’t know, Cydonia is the region of Mars that has that big ol’ human looking face on it and some pyramids. I love concept albums and concept bands. Granted writing albums of music about the same thing can be tiring for some musicians, I salute and admire any band that makes the attempt.

Newcomer Steve Sguario does a great job working out the hooks with Labyrinth veteran Olaf Thorsen, however the entire strings section needs some more work on coming up with new sounds to add variety to the tracks. It seems they are missing a little perspective in that this is a concept album not a concept sound.

Bottom Line: This debut is speedy and fun but lacks diversity. Cydonia is worthy of prog-power metal collectors, but not those who only have the money for the cream of the crop.

Rating: 5 of 10