THE FIELD WHERE SHE DIED

Spleen Arcana, a project by ProgArchives forum member, Anaon(Julien Gaullier), has finally released it's debut album, creating a pretty unique mix of modern melancholic(check the title of the album, and the cover-work for previous proof) rock music with classic 70's Prog roots, as well as having some Metal influences, showed in A Picture of Two Lovers in the Mist and in Trample on Me, which this last track is definitely a good proof of the unique mix of modern rock music with Prog, bringing the ol' mellotron, as well as changing tempos every now and then to a even more melancholic one in the second half, finalising with a highly energetic guitar solo, definitely making this song one of the best of the album, just behind A Kind of Heaven.

A Kind of Heaven, the final track of this melancholic album, while still featuring melancholy , the composition is definitely the best on the album, developing a whole bunch of more varied tempos and moods throughout the song, with more of the classic mellotron, as well as featuring some moog. A excellent closer.

The rest of the songs follow the same depressing flow, led by a slow-tempo which really doesn't add any more substance to the album, besides a even deeper, almost impenetrable, melancholic atmosphere. However don't get me wrong, they're well written and are enjoyable, but you really can't ask for more than in A Kind of Heaven and Trample on Me, except maybe, Tears Are Made to Flow, while being less ''adventurous'' than the other two already mentioned, it still features a very playful mood in the last 3 minutes, while the rest is calm, and quite beautiful I must admit.

Spleen Arcana ends up being a interesting discovery for me, while I'm not a fan of melancholic music, this album has it's pretty great moments which really makes me to check out every now and then. Also worth of mention that the album is highly accesible, with the own words of Julien: ''my music is not technical'', but this is not something bad at all, again, with the own words of Julien: ''does music has to be technical to be prog?'', no it doesn't Julien, no it doesn't. I think Spleen Arcana does definitely fits the circles of Prog music, but if there was a Alt. Prog sub-genre, there they would suite much more comfortably.

3 stars. Wothwhile modern Prog headed more to the melancholic side of rock, which I'm sure others would get a much better kick out of it than me.

Share this SPLEEN ARCANA review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to The Quiet One
• Report this review (#204858)
• Buy SPLEEN ARCANA music online with PA partners
• Show all SPLEEN ARCANA MP3/Stream
• Go to SPLEEN ARCANA page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to The Field Where She Died page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for SPLEEN ARCANA related discussions