Check out an excellent Trust Betrayal review here.

If it so happens that you don’t know their language, try this:

Kronos Mortus
Herczeg Frigyes

Arched Fire – Trust Betrayal (Wormholdeath 2023)

9/10

A new Finnish band, but somehow the name sounds familiar? Don’t worry, “the fault is not in your device”! The heavy/speed band Arched Fire from Lapland was originally formed in 1989, but the only meaningful sign of life was their 2021 full-length album called Remote Control, which contained mostly forgettable songs for me.

Although only two years have passed since then, the new album Trust Betrayal with a running time of almost 40 minutes, released on Wormholedeath Records, is on the other hand a more mature and even professional work. In their sound, the thrash roots are clear from the side of the drums and guitars. On the other hand, the vocals are less stable, but still run on a fixed heavy/speed track.

Compared to 2021, Arched Fire has come a long way! Their current release is much more melodic, while also being boldly (sometimes too much) open in its rhythms. It is clear that they are not afraid of unexpected tempo changes and the use of other metal genres, thus injecting thrash, heavy, speed, power, but also all punk elements into their production.

Kristian Herkman’s vocals are a little overbearing and reminiscent of the vagaries of the 80s, but they carry serious weight in several tracks. Its razor-sharp sound may be unusual at first for ears used to lower pitches, however, I think you can easily become friends with it. In the mix and mixing, however, to base such a large proportion of the material on his performance, I think it was a great audacity on the part of sound engineer Teemu Liekkala. Because although the result is very effective, it is still incomprehensible to me why those who can produce such brutal, abrasive riffs don’t want their strums to tear apart the eardrums from time to time? It seems as if Trust Betrayal is tailor-made for heavy/speed metallers.

Trust Betrayal has become a divisive work not only musically, but also lyrically, the aim of which is to stimulate thought! That’s why, whenever I showed it to my friends, they all found different cuts to be gut-wrenching. The album cover created by Jan Yrlund (Darkgrove) also managed to attract attention, and also expresses what the album has to say. Arched Fire’s songs move thematically from intuitions and experiences born of everyday life to sinister, dystopian visions.

Of the ten compositions on the disc, I personally consider five to be memorable, and one is close to being so. Narcissist, which criticizes narcissists, and Blind Faith, which focuses even more on the dark side of religion, gained weight from the first corner. The former builds nice melodies with riffing on the simple and fast punk basic beat – the harmony of Ari Väntänen and Janne Särkelä is amazing – just as the vocals are outstanding in the clear and high ranges as well as in the scratchier parts and in the band vocals. In addition to the rougher-sounding, overall more mid-tempo Blind Faith-bena thrashes strings and vocals, I also feel that Aslak Purojärvi’s lively beats are very effective.

The members of Arched Fire here really know what they are doing, they absolutely understand their craft, which is also confirmed by the solo before the closing. Compared to the previous ones, Oblivion, which oscillates between fast and slow tempos and envisions the disappearance of modern civilization, is also noteworthy, I really like Mika Rytilahti’s booming bass in it, but unfortunately, while the drums are monotonous, the vocals are too complex. Compared to the pleasant humming and throat-swelling vocals of the opening, as well as the band vocals of the sequel, the screams that can be heard in the intervening time are really unnecessary.

From the second round, Corporeal Abhorrence of Entrails, which deals with the biological disaster caused by industrial animal husbandry, musically contains all the advantages of Oblivion, but at the same time avoids exaggerations. Their sound is completely old school, with intense riffs and excellent solos. It does not go into exaggeration, despite the fact that even the harder ranges show a little more variation and effort, thereby painting an even more violent background behind the message conveyed by the vocals.

Mastermind, which deals with the dangers of mass media, also contains plenty of fresh riffs, but the reason I highlight it is because of the principle of less is more. A fast-tempo item seasoned with a fiery, dizzying groove, where the basically thrash guitar work is accompanied by blast beats almost all the way through, until after the half-time a black tone appears in the background, which, supplemented by a chorus, completely covers the melodic texture in darkness. With this stuff, you can’t talk about emotional or melancholic songwriting, however. Artificial Sun, which begins with hammering in the face, blunt riffs and frantic vocals, whipping up technicism acting as the savior of the world, is the closest to this. The composition does not bring anything new compared to what we heard before, until about half way through, but suddenly the song slows down, and a rockier drum is placed under the jagged riff and the old-fashioned, artistic solo. The unique middle part is then followed again by a fast tempo, until the closing is brought by softer, acoustic strings.

All in all, Trust Betrayal is a great mass of metal that shows that the band wants and can improve. Of course, like silver, this production can still be polished, which I’m sure Arched Fire will not be indebted to. A must-have for heavy and speed metal fans!