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On the eve of release – more reviews

Critical opinion on The Path Untravelled has been universally positive so far. Following on from the previous reviews, we have a few more for you.

Occult Black Metal Zine : “Arx  Atrata  are  a  very  great  sounding  atmospheric  black  metal  solo  project”

The Void Journal: “The Path Untravelled ranks proudly on the shelf with my favourite music titles to date”

Independent Music Showcase (via Facebook): “So much better than what some of the mainstream bands produce”

RTMB Magazine (in Spanish): “An enjoyable journey from beginning to end” (translated)

Headshot Music: “The riches of this project apparently lay in details. There are so many that I cannot grasp the entirety without this review going for the length of an essay”

Games, Brrraaains & A Head-Banging Life : “There is no faulting a single moment of this album”

Medienkonverter (in German): “Thumbs up and a big ‘buy’ recommendation for fans of this subgenre” (translated)

La Guilde du Metal (in French): “The Path Untravelled is a success” (translated)

Rock Out Stand Out: ” If you’ve ever heard, or even been aware of Winterfylleth, Agalloch, or even Gris‘ Il était une forêt… you need to listen to this album”

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Preorders for The Path Untravelled now open

Glad to announce that pre-orders for The Path Untravelled are now open. As is now tradition, the album comes as a hand-numbered digipak, and is also available as part of two limited edition sets including a t-shirt and badge.

Choose your path: the path of Brethren:

Or the path of Betrayer:

Visit our Bandcamp page below to place orders, due to be shipped October 11th. Thanks for your support.

https://arxatrata.bandcamp.com/album/the-path-untravelled

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The Path Untravelled – First Reviews

Promo copies of the album have been with journalists for a few days, and the reviews are starting to come in.

First up were Sonic Abuse, who said “The Path Untravelled is a stunningly recorded body of work [..] Bold, beautiful and haunting, The Path Untravelled is a work of art and highly recommended.” They awarded it 9.5 out of 10, and you can read the whole review at the following link: http://www.sonicabuse.com/2019/08/arx-atrata-the-path-untravelled-album-review/

Next we have Metal Temple, who say The Path Untravelled is “an excellent album” that is “sad, and depressing, but also full of vigor and excitement”, and “an undeniable winner”, awarding it 9 out of 10. Again, you can read the entire review on their site here: http://www.metal-temple.com/site/catalogues/entry/reviews/cd_3/a_2/arx-atrata-the-path.htm

More reviews will be posted as they come in, but until then watch this space for more news and keep an eye on our Bandcamp page for pre-order news.

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The Path Untravelled

The third album from Arx Atrata is entitled ‘The Path Untravelled’. Due out on October 11th, this record continues the sonic and thematic journey started by Oblivion and followed by Spiritus In Terra but visits new destinations.

More news on release formats and pre-orders will follow shortly, but for now, here’s ‘An Undying Verse’, a vision of the grey area between fact and fiction, wakefulness and slumber, life and death.

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Five years since Oblivion was released

5 years ago today saw the release of the first Arx Atrata album ‘Oblivion’ on 100 limited edition digipaks and digital stores. The intent was to make an album that was mixing some of the more recent developments in UK black metal with aspects of the more synth-based atmospheric black metal acts from Europe, with some blackened doom aspects thrown in for good measure. Inspiration came from a range of bands: Fen, Winterfylleth, Wodensthrone, Lustre, Paysage D’Hiver, Darkspace, Forest Stream, Agalloch, and more. Some of these influences are more audible than others! But regardless, the response to this release far exceeded all expectations and ensured new material would be forthcoming, in the form of 2017’s Spiritus In Terra and the 3rd album coming next year – news of which will be coming very soon. Thanks to all for your support.

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Guitar technology for album 3

This is just a boring gear post for the fellow musicians out there. Rather than complex permutations of pedals I’ve usually opted for multi-effects units. The previous albums had a lot of sounds from the venerable Pod XT Live floorboard, but the next album will feature the newer Line 6 Helix unit (at the top in the image below). Routing everything through the Helix makes it trivial to get exactly the same tones live as in the studio, so… who knows, maybe live shows can happen. Watch this space.

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Sherwood Forest

Sherwood Forest is an important location in English history and legend, serving as inspiration for the 3rd song on the previous album. Although greatly reduced in size since medieval times, the ancient woodland still exists today in several locations north of Nottingham.

Picture of a trail in Sherwood Forest

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Album 3 progress

The writing process for this album has been slower than anticipated, but the result should be worth the wait. The music is 90% complete, with themes and lyrics underway. The final stages of recording should be taking place during the autumn.