Garden of the Arcane Delights

AMG Review of Garden of the Arcane Delights

Ned Raggett
All Music Guide

Continuing in the vein of the self-titled debut but more clearly plunging into a wider range of music and style, Garden is the clear transition between the group's competent but derivative goth start and something much, much more special. Opening track "Carnival of Light" captures the blend at play, with rolling drums, dulcimer, processed guitar and more creating a swirling, evocative mix of sound at once new and old. Gerrard's simply lovely vocals are further icing on the cake. "Flowers of the Sea" is another similarly entrancing effort, simpler in arrangement but no less hypnotic. The remaining numbers, "The Arcane" and the wordily-entitled "In Power We Entrust the Love Advocated," follow the first album's general pattern -- Perry is again a fantastic singer, but the songs themselves aren't as memorable, embracing doomy goth sonics without adding much to the overall sonic canon.