Cassette Review // Arklight "Exorcisms"

https://arklight.bandcamp.com/album/exorcisms

The sound of Arklight is rather distinct but I can't put my finger on what it would be in terms of a genre for listeners to relate with.   Blanket terms like "dark rock" and "goth" come to mind, but that also covers a lot of ground.   In some ways I think of this cassette as being a cross between Oingo Boingo and The Clash, which in some ways could just come out all wrong but you have to imagine those two artists in the best possible way.

I'm hesitant to call this "darkwave" because I think it's too heavy on the rock side, but if you do like darkwave then this cassette is going to also be perfect for you.   Elements of artists such as Vlimmer and She Wants Revenge come through, but ultimately it has this quality where you can use those sounds as a base and then add in this something extra to really make "Exorcisms" stand out.

A song such as "Half-Life" is faster, so it feels closer to punk rock.  But then you have a song right after it in "Heaven Only Knows" which has some distortion and just those overall vibes of being scary, which I think comes with the goth aspect of it all.   As we approach Halloween season as I type this, it is somewhat fitting to hear this sound in the Fall, with the leaves and all just the overall vibe of the weather changing from warm to cold.

At times these songs can feel frantic in their delivery, while at the end the song "Spine" has these drums which start off the song and carry through in a way which reminds me of Pong.  The way that the styles can morph throughout this cassette while always finding that rock (and punk) base goes to show how diverse Arklight is.  This might not even be goth at all, that might just be an idea influenced by the season.  Listening to this in the summer could provide a different perspective and I do enjoy that notion as well.