A year after volume one, John Bassett returns with the simply titled “II” from his instrumental project Arcade Messiah combining the guitar based elements of Arcade Messiah’s first album with the prog-rock of John Bassett’s previous band King Bathmat.
It was always going to be intriguing to hear how Arcade Messiah would hold up for a second outing, the debut is full of sludgy riffs and stoner rock so whilst Bassett needed to keep a similarity there was of course always a danger volume II would end up sounding more of the same.
So with that in mind then “II” opens with the relaxed intro of “Moon Signal” and eases you back into the realms of Arcade Messiah before the track changes to those heavy guitars and a familiarity to that of the self-titled initial release, however the unnerving solos imply the album is about to take you on a slightly different journey to the first.
The same can be said for “Red Widow” as the layers of guitar-work have more than just the heaviness of the debut and “Black Dice Maze” is where Arcade Messiah is to start winning the hearts of the prog-rock lovers, it’s complexity is something that makes volume II slightly harder to comprehend musically as at times it come across as a little disjointed and hard-going but that’s all part of the appeal.
John Bassett creates a massive sound collage, showing that the art of a concept album doesn’t have to rely on lyrical content, the first album conjures up images of the destruction of a planet whereas what we have here is Arcade Messiah re-building a forgotten empire, this may not have been the plan of the artist but there’s definitely something story like in the way the pieces all fit together.
The more chilled out moments act as interludes with “Via Occulta” leading nicely into “Read the Sky” whilst the post rock of “Start Missing Everybody” brings things to a close, but for those purchasing a physical copy of the album then you’re in for a treat with “The Four Horseman”.
This bonus track in itself is a prog-rock masterpiece, an epic twenty minute affair which has a gradual build up before the albums only vocals appear to rise from the oceans to create a subtle futuristic effect as crushing guitars and solos sweep back and forth… maybe this is an insight into what John Bassett’s Arcade Messiah will bring us with volume three, a homage to that of King Bathmat or just more musical noodling from the man behind the mask.
Either way for those of you not wanting to throw yourselves in at the deep end give volume one a listen before immersing yourself completely, but if you’re already familiar with Bassett’s work then be sure to give Arcade Messiah “II” the attention it quite rightly deserves for you won’t be disappointed.
