unScene: Arbitrator – “Indoctrination of Sacrilege”

Arbitrator – Indoctrination of Sacrilege

This album is the fruition of a one man effort and that only adds to my respect and appreciation of this great piece of modern, melodic death metal. Robert Kulka provides guitar, bass, and vocals for this, but has also drawn in other established musicians to flesh out his project, but if the core of this work and its creation is down to him then the Canadian boy done good.

It’s an incredibly heavy piece of work even among the genre staples, some really thundering riffing and ultra-guttural vocals but retaining a clarity and precision without sacrifice to technicality for the sake of it.

Arbitrator

Investing in production by Swedes always pays off! Hour of Penance or latter Behemoth come to mind as you are battered by the roaring storm, but there are more layers to this as well. An interesting industrial element is mixed in as well, with extensive samples, techno beats and keyboard lines that are complementary instead of intrusive, and there’s no fear of clearer spoken or sung lyric sections either.

A key to the effectiveness is in good and varied structures that shift along with a natural pacing, atmospheric sometimes, relentless the rest. Some of these shift into a more epic and melodic arena with an element of relative accessibility that you would expect from that too. It really is a top quality release that sounds on a level with many established bands and a good deal more dynamic and exciting than some of those too.