Give us hell or sing our praise? Your choice!

Here’s Metal Division magazine’s review from Germany – and a rough online translation in English.

”The album is bursting with energy and joy of playing, is immediately catchy and is so contagious that it is impossible to keep your legs still.

And so the hammering starts properly. Pummeling guitars and driving drum beats ensure proper groove, but above all Kristian Herkman at the front heats up properly. His variable singing rounds off the catchy songs, which should immediately burn into your ear canals with catchy melodies. A number of songs shine with a distinctive riff, which is usually carried very confidently through the season and often has one or the other allusion to the past rock history ready.

It’s amazing that not only do bolzers like the opener “Fear” or “Narcissist” work, but with “Mastermind” there’s another damn strong song on it that steadily increases until the end. If I still had some initial doubts when I first listened, it becomes clear at the latest with this penultimate song what a strong disc the band has delivered here. “Blind Faith”, as well as the following “Self-Backstabbers” and “Wings of Chrome” are absolute catchy tunes, which immediately find their way into the auditory canals through simple but extremely effective melodies.

AND THERE’S MORE!

Truemetal.it reviewed us in Italy, in Italian. Thus, another hasty translation:

The first nucleus of the Finns Arched Fire was formed in 1989, when some young schoolmates decided to play hard music together.

With the clear idea of doing things right, they began to write their own songs, participate in a few local concerts, make a few radio appearances and even record an exploratory four-track demo, but when this was reviewed, even favorably , the band had already broken up: it was 1990, however determined Arched Fire lasted less than two years.

So far everything is normal, bands that start in fourth gear and then nail themselves at the first corner, the story is full of them.

Thirty years have passed, on the strength of the saying “better late than never”, the five “now differently young” have decided to revive the band.

And so, in 2019, Arched Fire picked up where they left off by debuting, in 2021, with the album ‘Remote Control’.

Not happy and increasingly cohesive, they now repeat with ‘Trust Betrayal’, the second full-length available from April 7, 2023 via WormHoleDeath.

Arched Fire’s is a robust Heavy Metal with multiple traits, as powerful and epic as it is aggressive and sharp, hooked to the old-school lines and with many exciting forays into the neighboring land of Thrash. The influences that are felt have a wide range ranging from Judas Priest to Megadeth, with reminiscences of the early Fifth Angels.

Responding to the description of the average Scandinavian musician, i.e. the one who manages to transform even the screeching of a grater attached to a distorter into music, the five artists convert their inspirations into something of their own, giving vent to a strong personality with decisive and incisive traits .

The songs are solid, without yielding, played to perfection according to their own style, highlighted, above all, by the changing voice of Kristian Herkman, a disciple of Rob Halford for the high tones and of our own Steve Sylvester for the more disturbing and wicked interpretations.

At this point, the lack of originality doesn’t matter anymore, on the contrary … I would say that Arched Fire don’t even look for it, remaining faithful to what they liked as kids, canceling the three decades of rest.

Essential Heavy/Speed Metal, without frills or seductions from other genres well planted in the land of Finland, the result of painstaking care for arrangements and production and a discreet refinement in interspersing effective tempo changes with abrasive riffs, enveloping melodies and epic chants: this is the summary of ‘Trust Betrayal’.

The quality of the songs is, roughly, equivalent … high for all. In particular, ‘Fear’ travels from start to finish, the frenzy of ‘Pestilence’ (with guest Tim ‘Ripper’ Owens) drags you back in time, ‘Narcissist’ is a flurry of blows to the stomach, the bite of ‘Blind Faith’ is lethal, ‘Corporeal Abhorrence of Entrails’ brings sure damage to the cervical, ‘Wings of Chrome’ is an assault on the white weapon, with a riff that are real ax shots and ‘Artificial Sun’ is the conclusion of a journey epic dominated by savage fury.

In terms of content, ‘Trust Betrayal’ revolves around the theme of trust, understood not only as that towards others, but also towards oneself or religion or even technology, analyzing it through aspects of daily life or through dystopian visions, however not too far from reality.

There is nothing more to say! Album not to be missed and absolutely to be included in your collection. Who knows where Arched Fire would be now if, thirty years ago, they hadn’t stopped…