Band:	Poema Arcanus
Album:	Iconoclast
Style:	Death doom metal, Progressive doom metal
Release date:	2002
A review by:	Undercraft

01. Walls?
02. The Crawling Mirrors
03. Elegia
04. Chaman
05. Elixir
06. Iconoclast
07. She Burns Us
08. Rite
09. Distances
10. Impressions
11. Desintegracion
12. Burnt
13. And Thou Shall Obey

Doom Metal from Chile. That's a phrase that you don's get to hear [or read] often! But still, South America has a strong metal scene, mostly unknown to the European market, but is there! [I'm South American, so I know what I'm talking about!]

This is the sophomore release of this Chilean Doomsters, and is a fine piece of Doom metal! The music is deep, emotional, melancholic and mostly... Dark, very dark, from the piano intro 'Walls?' to the closer 'And Thou Shall Obey' you find yourself entangled by 65 minutes of pure sadness and sorrow.

This is done by the excellent musicianship of the band [great keyboard use!], but the vocals are out of this world! Claudio Carrasco, handles the vocal department, and besides the typical death grunt, his clean voice is very deep and sorrowful, I would dare to say that the vocals are the trademark of this band.

Like every album, some songs shine among the others, My favorites from this one are 'The Crawling Mirrors' great opener for this Cd! 'Elegia' by far my favorite song in the album, has a epic piano and is sung entirely in Spanish! 'Iconoclast' alternates the clean/death vocals perfectly, 'Distances' is a more laid-back song, but it fits perfectly in the whole sad vibe of the production.

To sum things up, this album is damn good! If you like diversified doom metal with deep vocals, some faster parts and excellent songwriting, this one is for you! What a great surprise from Chile, if you don's know any band from South America, Poema Arcanus is a great way to start expanding your metal knowledge!