Arcana Coelestia - Nomas (2014)

Previously on OPIUM HUM:
Arcana Coelestia - Le Mirage de l'Ideal (2009)
Urna - Mors Principium Est (2013)

GODDAMN. Le Mirage de l'Ideal, Arcana Coelestia's last record (linked above), instantly earned a place on my list of all-time favorite doom metal records. And... I think that they might have managed to top it with Nomas. There's still that incredibly layered, cacophonous sound -- how many fucking guitars are on these recordings? -- but the production's way fuller than it was last time out, and for a band with such an intricate, lush approach to such crushingly heavy music, this is a very welcome enhancement. Plus, they added just a hint of black metal on a couple of tracks.

Track listing:
1. Nomas I
2. Nomas II
3. Nomas III
4. Nomas IV
5. Nomas V

Escaping the deterioration of this earth

If you like this, try:

Black Wreath - A Pyre of Lost Dreams (2009)

The Fall of Every Season - Amends (2013)

Arcana Coelestia - Le Mirage de l'Idéal (2009)

Arcana Coelestia are a three-piece funeral doom outfit from Italy. They share members with, among others, Locus Mortis, a weird and awesome black metal band, and Urna, whose blackened sound has edged progressively closer to that of Arcana Coelestia. Both are definitely worth looking into.

While I really enjoyed Arcane Coelestia's first album, Le Mirage de l'Idéal improves on it in every conceivable way, and easily makes the shortlist of my all-time favorite doom metal records. The sound is just so impossibly huge and dense -- it sounds like there are like fifteen guitars, clean and distorted, all playing something different, at all times. Thickening this ominous cloud of sounds are guttural growls, midrange howls, male and female clean vocals, reverb-drenched drums, chiming pianos, and cavernous drones. Beautiful, ugly, heavy, emotionally gripping, and absolutely breathtaking.

Track listing:
1. Duskfall
2. Requiem (For the Fathomless Void of Redemption)
3. Le Mirage de l'Idéal
4. Tragedy & Delirium I - The Tragedy
5. Tragedy & Delirium II - The Delirium
6. ...Thus Fade in Nocturnal Deluge

Soon I’ll be memory for you to shed
My deliverance leaves no shadows behind, only dirty sand
While this needle pierces me gently
Soon I’ll betray you, escaping from the flesh
My salvation floats within your eyes