ARAPACIS-Consequences Of Dreams (Femme Metal Records) 

ARAPACIS is the Canadian rock/metal outfit, that already surprised us with their album “So Many Leapers”. This new album contains ten songs and is worthy of almost forty-five minutes of progressive/gothic metal. After hearing title track “Consequences Of Dreams”, I can draw the conclusion, that the band has gained a lot more power and they’ve definitely created a very strong opener here. You’ll hear many influences of the metal scene of today, besides the more traditional ones. Same applies to “Solitary Abode”, which contains the loud screaming of vocalist Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Fyre and the very cool riffs of guitarist Jerry Fielden. However, “The Green Fairy” starts off with a steady pace and shows the progressive side of the band. “Haunted Forests” is on next, which opens with the stunning bass sound of Dmitri Mak-Mak. You’ll hear the haunted voices and some deep dark grunts in this song. This is again the progressive side of ARAPACIS, only this time in its entirety. The guitars cry halfway the song, lifting it up to become the very first highlight on this album for me. “Death of Loneliness” is a point of rest; the obligatory ballad, so to speak. The harmony vocals are really worth mentioning here, but they are not very metal in my book. “Hesitate” however, sounds groovy and dark. It also shows, that Lizzie has an absolute killer voice. “Theocracy” opens moody, but develops into a raw rocker with more brutal grunts. The guitar solo sounds amazing again, making it one of the more brutal works on “Consequences Of Dreams”. “Roadways” is the absolute highlight for me. It sounds like FRANK MARINO with a female vocalist. Hard to imagine perhaps, but just listen to the magical bluesy guitar sound and the great vocals of Lizzie. While “From The Dark” gives me the serious urge to bang my head like old times! A great power explosion is happening and once again I’m positively surprised, especially when the band cranks it out loud. Now, the last song must be something really special. At least I hope so, because it plays for almost nine minutes. The song develops itself into a huge jam, including - oh, my god - a drum solo by Pedro Osorio. I bet, that ninety-nine percent of our listeners will not be pleased with a long drum solo on a studio album. However, I think it’s an amazing idea and it shows up very well in this song. The somewhat progressive instrumental part after the drum solo could also have been from the hand of FRANK MARINO. Although I may have had my doubts about the rating of this CD in the beginning, you will see that I’m giving it a very high score, mainly because of the very strong CD closer. It takes a lot of courage to play a drum solo on a studio album. Nowadays, it could be labeled as extremely dangerous, but I’d like to call it progressive. The band on the other hand doesn’t seem to care a bit, they’re ready to take the risk, which could be called controversial for that. Fact is, they don’t want to ride the paved path, although it almost looked like that in these first few songs. In the chemical industry it is a hype to think ‘out of the box’ nowadays. You are praised, when you come up with solutions that go way beyond ‘normal thinking’. Well, I come from the world of the chemical industry and I would like to translate this way of thinking to reviewing this album. It’s controversial and way ‘out of the box’ and ARAPACIS will be highly praised for their braveness doing this! Website: http://www.arapacis.com/ [9 points] (Toine van Poorten)

From Roger Fisher, original Heart guitarist, Feb. 22, 2010, on Consequences of Dreams:
 
"Jerry,
 
Man, your record sounds great! Cool guitar sounds, amazing singer, really original composing.
 
Keep up the great work!
 
Rog"

http://www.femmemetal.net/arapacisconsequencesrev.htm

AraPacis - "Consequences Of Dreams" (2009)
Label: Femme Metal Records
Review By Tony Cannella
 
 
AraPacis are a progressive/goth/rock/metal band from Canada - whew! That's a mouthful. When you hear their newly released second album, titled "Consequences of Dreams" you'll see why the band could fit so comfortably into many genres of metal, of course there are some who think categorization is a sin, honestly the best thing is to give AraPacis a listen and decide for yourself where they fall. What can't be denied however, is the sheer ferocity and diversity of "Consequences of Dreams".
The chaotic opening track "Consequences of Dreams" kick things into gear in a big, heavy, fierce way. "Solitary Abode", "The Green Fairy" and "Haunted Forests" keep things going as the band adds plenty of melody to go along with the crashing rhythms and heavy guitar riffs. Probably my favorite track on the CD is the awesome ballad "Death of Loneliness", a bit of a departure from the other material, but it just fits so well and it is as haunting as it is beautiful. "Hesitate" brings things up a notch (or two) in the heaviness department. Other highlights include: "Theocracy", "From The Dark", "Roadways" and the awesome 8-minute instrumental "Thunder Lizard" that closes the CD.

Overall, I was very impressed by this CD. AraPacis are a band that have been creating a pretty strong buzz in the underground and judging by the material contained on "Consequences of Dreams", that buzz is extremely well deserved. The songs take you in many different directions, so just sit back and enjoy the ride.


Rating: 80/100

Tracklist :
Consequences of Dreams

Solitary Abode

The Green Fairy

Haunted Forests

Death of Loneliness

Hesitate

Theocracy

Roadways

From the Dark

Thunder Lizard

Line Up :
Lizzie Fyre - Vocals
Eric Litinas - Bass
Jerry Fielden - Guitars, Keyboards, Mandolin, Vocals
Pedro Osorio - Drums  

http://www.metaluniverse.net/lire_critique.php?id=1627

Auteur : Albert Lamoureux

Groupe: Arapacis
Album: Consequences of dreams (2009)


Style : Progressive Gothic Metal

Compagnie : Femme Metal Records

Format : CD

Liste des pistes : 

01. Consequences of Dreams
02. Solitary Abode
03. The Green Fairy
04. Haunted Forests
05. Death of Loneliness
06. Hesitate
07. Theocracy
08. Roadways
09. From the Dark
10. Thunder Lizard


AraPacis est un groupe originaire de la Rive-Sud de Montréal. Formé en 2003, il s’inspire de plusieurs groupes des années 1970, notamment Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin et Iron Maiden. Le style préconisé est un amalgame de différents genres de métal, mais ce sont les racines rock progressives qui sont au premier plan. Nous retrouvons aussi des influences doom et gothique à quelques endroits. Le groupe est composé du guitariste fondateur Jerry Fielden, de Lizzie Fyre au chant, d’Éric Litinas à la basse et de Pedro Osorio à la batterie. Après plusieurs changements de personnel, voici finalement leur deuxième album qui a pour nom ‘Consequences Of Dreams’.

C’est sous une belle introduction de guitare que s’amorce la pièce titre. La musique est entrainante tout en étant lugubre et mélancolique. C’est toutefois la voix de Lizzie qui retient l’attention avec une prestation à la fois triste et brutale. La structure musicale de ‘Solitary Abode’ est complexe et contient de nombreux changements de rythmes. Encore une fois, Lizzie nous démontre la polyvalence de sa voix. Cette fois, c’est un mélange entre le genre brutal et émotionnel auquel nous avons droit. La pièce ‘Green Fairy’ débute sous les cris de Lizzie, on remarque immédiatement que ce style vocal n’est pas sa force. Fort heureusement, la majorité de la composition est chantée dans un registre qui lui est plus favorable. La mélodie de la guitare est jolie, mais peu variée. On retrouve un beau mélange entre la voix brutale de Jerry et celle de Lizzie sur la pièce ‘Haunted Forest’. La composition est bien réussie sans être trop différente de la structure classique d’une composition gothique surutilisée depuis les dernières années par les nombreux groupes de ce genre. C’est avec une autre belle mélodie jouée à la guitare sèche que l’on découvre la ballade ‘Death Of Loneliness’. Lizzie nous offre une belle performance vocale qui correspond davantage à style vocal. Pedro nous montre aussi tout son talent à la batterie plus particulièrement lors de la seconde moitié de la composition. ‘Theocracy’ débute tranquillement, mais devient rapidement le titre le plus lourd et rapide de l’album. Les arrangements vocaux manquent un peu de profondeur même si nous avons droit à un bon mélange entre les voix de Lizzy et de Jerry. L’un des plus beaux morceaux de l’album est sans contredit le titre ‘Roadways’ qui sort directement des années 1970. C’est un superbe mélange de rock et de blues comme Deep Purple le faisait si bien par le passé. La voix de Lizzie est chaleureuse et forte, elle ressemble beaucoup à celle de Lee Aaron. L’album prend fin avec le titre instrumental à connotation progressive intitulé ‘Thunder Lizard’ qui met en vedette le batteur Pedro. Ce dernier nous en met plein les oreilles tout au long de la composition. 

Les amateurs de musique rock progressive aimeront le style vieillot que nous offre ce groupe. Malgré l’effet naturel que nous donna la production, la voix est cependant trop en avant de la musique et est très marquante. Un peu plus de profondeur et d’harmonies vocales auraient grandement amélioré le résultat final de ce deuxième album. Arapacis est un groupe peu connu qui mérite une écoute ou deux.



Note de MU : 7/10 Note des Membres : --/10

Back to the music Page