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artist: Ars Notoria
title: Chronicles
year: 2023
genre: Death Metal
type: Album
label: Great Dane Records
language: English
rel. date: 2023-02-25
source: WEB/MP3
quality: CBR 320kbps / 44.1 kHz / Joint Stereo
runtime: 00:36:36
size: 83.9 MiB / 9 tracks
rip date: 2026-07-19
source url: https://open.qobuz.com/album/aus6cv3ugw9ua
tracklist:
01. Headspit 3:42
02. Save the Book 3:46
03. Ashes 4:00
04. Compel 4:10
05. King's Crow 5:20
06. Triggered 4:20
07. Obey 3:48
08. Melt 3:08
09. Wide Open 4:22
release notes:
Ars Notoria is a pretty newish project from France led by the sole member
Antoine. This lad is also part of another Great Dane act called Beyond
the Void where he is active as guitar player, but here he is more or less
doing everything. Writing the songs, playing guitar and bass, recording,
programming drums.. The only part for which he got in some help are the
vocals where he has not invited only one but a total of more than ten
singers to contribute. I am always glad when these kind of one man
projects realize that when it comes to the vocals it might be a good idea
to get some professionals on bord which is exactly what Antoine did for
his debut full length "Chronicles".
So what does Ars Notoria sound like? What we got here is quite
sophisticated technical death metal with all the trademarks of the genre.
Rhythm and tempo changes all along, hysterical soloing left and right and
some complicated songs structures as well as instrumental acrobatics are
all included. While I am not that much into something overly technical I
must admit I have been impressed by some of the tracks here. At times a
blur of fast and chaotic aggression, led by some hyper-speed drumming,
alongside swirling riffs hits like a wall of impenetrable sound, but then
out of the maelstrom emerges some intriguing guitar work to bring
structure and character to the music. There is also a strong melodic
factor implemented in some cuts which makes them even more enjoyable.
So what about the vocals? In the past few years I have more and more
staid away from the concept of using different singers on one album as I
felt that this hurts the flow of most records. That being said it is
quite interesting to listen to this output track by track and comparing
the different approaches. In the end most of the artists here use some
sort of growling of course, but anyone familiar with death metal will be
able to easily distinguish between most of the voices. I also have the
feeling that Antoine chose very carefully who is going to sing on which
song as e.g. we have the vocalist of old school death metal manglers
Voorhees on the stomping mid-tempo banger "Compel" which might be my
favorite of the bunch here. Another favorite of mine surely is the album
closer "Wide open" with the Warkunt shouter at work and doing a good job.
The production on "Chronicles" is pretty solid and although the drums are
programmed they are in no way hurting the overall sound. Of course it can
be expected that the production is quite modern and comes with the
typical way of bringing a slightly synthetic feeling to the table but
compare to other similar works there is enough dynamic in the end
product. In the end fans of old school death metal might look elsewhere
but anyone who is interested in giving something a bit different a try
could do worse than checking out Ars Notoria.