ARACHNOID

My favorite album of the french dark prog subgenre. Comparable to the works of Ange, Pulsar, Flamen Dialis, and Shylock, but heavier and darker than any of those in my opinion. Most people don't seem to care for the french/spoken word type lyrics, but I think they work to make the album sounds creepier. The band employs two keyboard players, two guitar players, several different vocalists on each song, and of course a tight rhythm section. The symphonic parts are constantly changing between the two keyboardists, building layers of dark atmosphere atop each other's work. The symphonies come from a mixture mellotron, farfisa, MS 10, Korg Synthesizers, and piano, and dominate most of the album. Some nice spaced out guitar riffs build upon the symphonic atmosphere with some nice fuzzy distortion. The first song, Le Chamadere, is a nearly 14 minute long dark, atmospheric masterpiece that gets the album off to a great start, showing the fullness of the bands abilities. Piano Caveau starts with a nice piano solo, then the mellotron and synthesizers interupt to send the song spinning into darkness, only to return to the same piano solo as at the beginning. Lyrical content varies from song to song, some vocal parts are sung, chanted or read agressively like spoken word. If you can get past the french lyrics anyone who likes dark/symphonic prog will enjoy this little known gem.