Progressive soundscapes for patient listeners - A review of Arkan's Lila H

Arkan had already recorded its fifth studio record Lila H two years ago but its release had to be delayed for numerous reasons, including the ongoing pandemic. This album offers quite diversified entertainment with twelve songs varying from under a minute to more than seven minutes with a total running time of almost fifty minutes.

The record includes some of the band's heaviest songs in a while focused on thunderous rhythm section, powerful growls and aggressive riffs as can be witnessed in the almost nauseating ''Surrounded''. The album also features much more epic, melancholy and melodic soundscapes as in ''My Son''. The third component are more progressive songs that however never get too overambitious and convince with great vocal lines and gripping melodies as in album highlight ''Black Decade''.

While these three different approaches could potentially clash, the different parts of the album are cleverly interwoven and manage to sound coherent, fluid and intellectual. Especially the final three songs that form a trilogy that almost reaches the nine-minute mark has been particularly well-written in that regard.

While the band has crafted twelve creative, entertaining and progressive melodic death metal tracks with atmospherically integrated Middle Eastern folk elements and occasional symphonic undertones, the album might perhaps be missing an obvious highlight and requests some patience to unfold its entire potential.

If you have appreciated Arkan in the past and wondered what the band might sound like in a more progressive soundscape, then you will certainly find the motivation and time to discover Lila H's creativity. Those who were perhaps looking for a return to the roots or a more simplified songwriting might however have a hard time with this more challenging and less accessible release. Even though this album should have been released faster and could have benefitted from more promotion, one has to congratulate the band for its courage to experiment with more progressive material and is left wondering where the quirky quintet could possibly still go from here.

Final rating: 80%