the sheer flood of talented technical death metal bands from the united states is overwhelming at times and it is hard to filter the good from the mediocre. arkaik is part of the massive unique leader records roster and the label is known for releasing quality extreme metal but always with one or two bad eggs among the stack. arkaik was on my radar for quite some time but never first priority. when commercial seller dodax on ebay dropped the price tag for this record from over twenty to only eleven euros, it was time to pull the trigger.
"nemethia" is an very ambitioned release. the guys know how to play their instruments and they know it well. the furious virtuosity is breath-taking at times. only the song writing feels sometimes a bit over elaborate, like they wanted too much. songs like "the order of the heirogon", "nexion stargate" and "the eupnean relic" click immediately but then there are one or two rather complicated songs where it's hard to not lose focus. great record all around but it won't invent the tech death wheel anew. lovely blue and gold merge vinyl of unknown quantity. unique leader records. 2017.
