Formed in 2012 in Lima, Peru, ARCADA have released a few demos and an EP, and now are ready to present their debut full-length, titled "Projections," which contains five tracks. The title track leads us off, and it's eight minutes in length. That familiar one-two riff pattern can be heard from the start, along with rolling, omnipresent drums. The vocals come in after a minute or so, offering tortured screams. The Black Metal sound is pretty traditional. "IAO" sounds like the previous track, again with that one-two riff pattern that the genre is known for, and vocal screams. There isn't much diversity so far.

"O" features more of the same. There is a riff change about 1/3 of the way in, but that wall of drums and guitars, combined with anguished screams, does not change. "Lunar Possession" sounds about the same. The band isn't winning any points on originality, that is for sure. They drive home that one-two riffing pattern and vocal screams to the point of ad nauseam. "Setheus" closes the album at over eleven minutes in length. According to Gnosticism, Setheus was "one of the great celestial powers dwelling in the sixth heaven." What exactly that means I do not know. The bass guitars can be clearly heard in this track, going up and down several different octaves. At the end, there is some screaming and yelling in Spanish.

Black Metal has been around for over 30 years. Many artists have chosen to advance the genre by expanding the traditional sounds, and have been wildly successful at doing that. ARCADA is not one of these bands. Relying on a recycled sound that has been around for, as I mentioned, over 30 years, and not taking any chances or staying from that path, "Projections" is a poor attempt at replicating or reliving the past, and offers nothing in the way an anything new or original in the genre. Leave the past behind please!