ARCANA 13 (2016) kicks it in Ravenna, Italy. Italy, the birthplace of cult Horror movie masters and current home to more gore-horror musical menageries than a black coven has Petrine crosses. ARCANA 13 stirs into the cauldron a lethal brew of Doom with the terror of Italian Horror's legacy and the band's bio signals Horror movie luminaries Lucio Fulci, Mario Bava and Dario Argento figuring into these distorted mellotrons, bang-on vocals and rawk guitar but me not being particularly into this genre of cinema, these names don't ring my demon bell. My loss, I know.

"Black Death" is a cool,catchy tune with mellotron ¡! I dig it and it is kinda spooky in a BLUE OYSTER CULT, GHOST kind of way - nice backing harmonies, saturated big rock guitars and a smooth lead vocal delivery like Eric Bloom would have done in 1979. The song covers some ground in 6:48 minutes-seconds. "Wrathchild" is a cover of an IRON MAIDEN song  from their 1981 release "KILLERS". This recording sounds like it came from the same session as "Black Death" - same audio mastering, same ice-cream vocals, same general sound. I am of the opinion that if you cover it, you better own it and beat on it like a neighbor nosing around after your last joint;  a real musical felony version good for at least 5 years in some prison for musicians that don't color inside the lines. This IRON MAIDEN cover does not quite get there, but it is OK swapping the more laid back vocals for the Bruce Dickinson heavy metal shrieking. "BLACK DEATH" is a short two songs in duration and one of those songs is a copy. C'mon mates, more music!

For you cool kids that want some bangin' hang music, check out my Spotify playlist which includes my reviewed bands ¡!

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/272H3UBARsuksY3BqU0CzP?si=5YG5VixkQlm6pHb4Rq_vqwsi=J8tlBdAgTSKsO7Zm0QvZ5g