As Puissance started to drift away from a purely martial sound and into more rhythmic and pop-oriented territory, Arditi picks up the flame and marches on through the smoldering remnants of the invisible war.  

Arditi's sound, for the most part, is pretty straight forward martial music with a touch of dark ambient. Many of the tracks feature looped historical samples, hymns, trumpets, and synths.  Like most of this genre, it's more of a montage of martial sounds with drumming as a backing track than actual recorded instrumentation.   

A lot of the drumming seems to be sampled, thus it can be a bit muffled and low in the mix.  Gives it an antiquated feel, which might be what was intended.  "That Day of Infamy" has some recorded drumming on it, giving it more life, but would have preferred it higher in the mix. But then again, the album as a whole serves to be a darker, more cynical approach than the usual uplifting bombastic orchestration of other bands.   

Keyboard heavy "Veer and Perish" should satisfy those seeking a neo-classical element. The track sweeps around with synths, looped chants and layered operatic singing. There’s a slight ring of gunfire, portraying a theatre laid to waste by warfare.  

“The Sinking Ship” poem exalts pessimism and nihilism but with a dash of Will to Power. Reminds me of the short story "Ship of Fools" by Ted Kaczynski, in which a cabin boy tries to alert a ship of bickering oppressed groups of impending doom. After being dismissed as a fascist and a detractor from immediate social issues, the ship crashes and the entire crew drowns.   

“Standards in Triumph” should satisfy anyone seeking a darker tone to their martial music. Fans of bands like the more recent work of Dernière Volonté might not find exactly what they are looking for here, but soon will find themselves immersed in the conflagration of war that is Arditi.    

www.arditi.tk

www.equilibriummusic.com