Arsis (United States of America (Virginia Beach, Virginia) )

Arsis - Starve for the Devil [2010] (Technical Melodic Death Metal)
Lable : Nuclear Blast Records

Arsis is an American technical/melodic death metal band. They have released their critically acclaimed debut album, “A Celebration of Guilt” in 2004. Unfortunately, Arsis’ third full-length, “We Are the Nightmare”, was surely a nightmare to their fans. Being a non-fan for now, I still don’t know what lies in this 10-tracker album.

The very first thing I’ve noticed here is the great guitar prowess the band is showing. Many things are technical here, from the intro, to the riffs and to the solos. The vocals here aren’t grunts that you usually hear on death metal records. Instead, we have raspy vocals here, which, in my opinion, are awesome, and rather well performed. In addition, the drums here pummel with fury making the songs’ beats usually fast. Also, we have here a tight production without straining themselves, therefore making the songs have a good vibe in it. Lastly, the album is more dissonant, so if you’re much used to your usual melodic death metal stuff, better go brace yourself, but don’t worry, you’ll get used to it soon.

Although sounding different from the other songs (and having a fucking title like this), “Forced to Rock” suits to be the album’s intro with its rocker vibe. On the other hand, “A March for the Sick” has its fast tempo and a more dissonant sound, which introduces you to the band’s real sound. Compared to the songs prior this one, “Beyond Forlorn” is less dissonant, with an amazing melodies and even a breathtaking solo. “The Ten of Swords” is also not that dissonant with a fast beat in it. Meanwhile, “Closer to Cold” has a little melancholic touch with the pummeling drums to make this song even better. “Half Past Corpse O’clock” is also dissonant from its intro to its verses part, with a somewhat melodic chorus. Lastly, we have “Sable Rising”, with pummeling drums and dissonant tremolo pickings.

What could I say anyway? Well, this album is decent enough, although I admit it takes a while to get used to due to its dissonance. I think this album is a good buy (though not necessarily a “must buy”), especially for the Arsis fans or technical metal fans.

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