Artist: SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE
Album: Arkanum
Genre: Death Metal
Release Date: April 12 2024
Coming from the bowels of Monterrey, Mexico, SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE has managed to find its own niche within the death metal scene for their brand of poignant sound and relentless energy. “Arkanum,” due out April 12, 2024, is the next chapter in the band’s glorious celebration of mystical themes woven within the raw intensity of death metal.
The album conceptualizes a journey inspired by nine major arcana tarot cards, each weaving stories of mental detox and the struggle for reinstatement into self.
The Concept: “Arkanum” delves into the labyrinth of the human psyche with themes of manipulation, inner conflict, and man’s most singular battle to find his own personal truth. With great ambition, connecting each song with a tarot card, the band paints a story that stretches through all human feelings and experiences. From “The Infection” to “The March Of The Innocents,” the songs forge forth from darkness to enlightenment, chaos to clarity.
SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE’s latest offering is a masterclass in the fusion of brutality and melody. Starting the album with “The Infection,” this song really captures the basic essence of the whole record: an aggressive mix of really heavy riffs and intelligent lyrics coming from the card “The Magician” in tarot, dealing with themes of manipulation and power. Tracks like “Into The Devil’s Realm” and “Dark Lullaby” contribute uniquely to the album’s main theme of self-discovery and confrontation with demons, where the band seems to find a balance between viciousness and intricate melody.
One of the strong elements that are presented in “Arkanum” is depth in its lyrics, giving the listener a rich tapestry of narratives that have resonance at a deeply personal level. “The Heretic,” inspired by The Tower tarot card, displays the belief system in disintegration. “Self Sacrifice,” relative to The Hanged Man, is an incarnation of a cathartic journey at its zenith—the metaphor for the new self.
The last song, “The March Of The Innocents,” inspired by The Justice Tarot Card, almost bitter and poignant, might bring question marks to the whole concept of justice and forgiveness.
The performance of the band in “Arkanum” is epic maelstrom, with every member delivering a lot of high and passion. Elizabeth Castillo’s lines of a thundery bottom sound from her bass, while Caro Saturni’s and Kenichi Om’s intertwining guitars shape an intricate melodic web with the riffs. Here, Nico Garza’s drums are the conduits through which this energy is drawn on the album, while Marlene Muñoz’s vocal delivery is strong and powerful—a guiding beacon pointing the listener towards the emotional and conceptual depth from which the album gets its character. As accurate in producing, ‘Arkanum’ is in recording and capturing the nucleus of SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE’s sound while further emphasizing its atmospheric and thematic elements. The mix reconciles the shock of death metal with its softer sides, which both raise heads in some more melodic and world-shadowing moments, to give one altogether airtight and fully involved listen.
Conclusion: “Arkanum” is really one more bold statement from SPIT ON YOUR GRAVE band, which dares and provokes the existing, already limited borders of death metal. This album is not a set of some songs but a real trip to the dark grounds of human souls, giving both catharsis and serious reflection. With an awesome concept, complex compositions, and raw emotional power, Arkanum speaks a band that never said die from note one to the very last. It is recommended listening for any death metal fan, and for that matter, anyone interested in the mystical and macabre.
