It takes something quite different sounding to really get me a little stuck for words these days, and Italian act Arcadia have managed to do that with their third effort Cold Cold Bodies.

Having undergone several line-up changes, Arcadia (who currently comprise of vocalist Michele Nocentini, guitarist Demetrio Scopelliti, bassist Marco Mastrobuono and drummer Edoardo Nicodemo) have managed to keep themselves going for the better part of twelve years, and in their time produced two full-length efforts, 2001’s Synth and 2005’s Fracture Concrete.

With Cold Cold Bodies, the band have once again thrown caution to the wind, and lunged headfirst into their own musical world, delivering a thirteen track album full of their self-coined “Italian Bastard Core” sound.

Pinning Arcadia down in the genre sense is somewhat of a challenge. But if you can imagine an amalgamation of Devin Townsend’s various projects, Meshuggah, nu-metal in general and elements of industrial music and thrash, then you have some idea of what’s contained throughout Cold Cold Bodies.

After a deliberately turned-down introductory piece entitled “0.066” (which if you turn up really loud, instructs you to “turn down the volume”), the band get things off to a fighting start with the chaotic “She’s Got A Knife.” Combining the time signatures of Meshuggah, mixed with the fluency of nu-metal (Slipknot and Korn come to mind) and the multi-layered harmonies of Townsend in the chorus, it’s clear that Arcadia is not exactly an easy act to describe in words. But while it sounds unoriginal, it seems to work for the most part in a strange catchy manner.

A touch of nu-metal’s rap mannerisms appears in the follow up track “Kissing Cyanide,” “Ravens And Doves” and “Ephe_Dream,” but it doesn’t really take away from the fact that the band really do manage to write some interesting music to sound themselves within.

On the heavier side of things, “Love Is Dead,” the industrialised “It Corrodes The Stars” and “Burn The Witches” are definitely worthy picks, while the Meshuggah like ten minute plus closer “Of Rust, Needles And A Taste Of Blood” is as close as you get to the real thing without the high sheen production.

I’ll give credit to Arcadia for trying something a little different from what a lot of acts are offering these days, but I can’t help but feel that the band have yet to really find a sound that they’re truly comfortable with. Having said that, Cold Cold Bodies is certainly one of the more interesting albums I’ve heard in a long time, and one that I’ll no doubt pull out from time to time to remind me just how far some bands are willing to go to steer clear of the majority of acts on the scene these days.

www.arcadiacrew.com