Heaven In Her Arms have become a well known and somewhat accomplished japanese screamo band, yet still in the shadow of Envy, who are clearly still the kings. One of the reasons for this is the fact that their releases would all sound like angry Envy b-sides, and there wasn't too much from this band that they could truly call their own.
That was until Paraselene was unleashed to our ears.
This record is one of the darkest, most brooding and dynamic screamo records ever. In fact, it's so dynamic that it's tough to actually call it a screamo record. Every song has it's own unique qualities that are daring enough to do just about anything.
Never before have I heard this much doom in this genre, or this much drone, or this much dissonance, and yes, at some points, this much depressive BLACK METAL.
The pacing of Paraselene is incredible as well. As a whole, the record sounds like it could be one huge ass song. Every track for the most part does indeed transition very smoothly into one another, but what's odd about this CD is that it seems that every song gets BETTER AND FUCKING BETTER as the CD progresses toward the end.
There are no teases on this record. If you're listening to the middle of "Echoic Cold Wrist" and you feel that you're in for something special, you'd be correct. "Halcyon" EXPLODES with agony and aggression and a million chord progressions that all somehow work and make you want to cry. "Halcyon" seeps into "Butterfly in Right Helicoid" which COULD be the strongest track on the record, with a massive middle section of post-rock fused with black metal.
What continues to emotionally destroy me about this CD is the way it totally concludes with "Veritas". This is one of the best performances I've heard from a violin since a Godspeed You! Black Emperor track. This song gives me the imagery of walking through the rain at night in a small town trying to find a place to stay. I'm not sure why. It has SOMETHING to do with the sample of rainfall during the intro, but the rest is history. But nonetheless, this song is soul crushing.
In all, Heaven In Her Arms have totally set themselves apart with Paraselene. The feedback I've seen for this record has definitely been great and I'm proud that people are 'getting' this. In that sense Heaven In Her Arms fans > Eluvium fans.
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