Unbelievable beautiful and tragic music, I would name it art, is brought to our ears by Swedish Doomsters DRACONIAN with their outstanding album Arcane Rain Fell. Unfortunately I do not know the previous release Where Lovers Mourn (but I will listen to it for sure!) and so I cannot tell you anything about advancement in music.
Talking about the created mood, I would compare DRACONIAN with the last outputs of My Dying Bride. Powerful minor-sounding guitar chords are accompanied by great wallowing melodies and the alternation of melancholic parts as well as impulsive rhythms leave the listeners a good many times with goose-skin. The intensity grabs the listener from the first tone, the consistently quite long songs are not getting boring at all, no, far from it! A wonderful sluggish song part seeming like the calm before the storm, dandling the wallower - kneeing before the speakers – in safeness, is followed by fast sequences, just enjoy the song Daylight Misery with its ingenious chorus. Male and female voices are in perfect balance and the goose skin gets a few centimetres thick.
The keyboard is held in the background just as the female voice so that they are no ornateness but an enrichment of the amazing orchestrated songs. Singer Anders Jacobsson often uses growling vocals, but he is also able to create additional suspense with the help of speaking sections. Sometimes the songs are quite fast like The Apostasy Canticle.
The very last track, entitled Death, Come Near Me, is able to bedazzle the listeners once again for the quarter of an hour. Ryan Henry, member of American band Necare is taking part in this monster track. I can hardly describe my feelings linguistically, you must listen and enjoy!
I want to recommend Arcane Rain Fell to all fans who adore bands like My Dying Bride or (older) Katatonia, this album will set you aflame! I will for sure take numerous trips through the wonderful arcane rain with DRACONIAN.