Don’t you let me down, Arsis

Pretty much my favorite band on any planet or in any dimension is Arsis. I’ll spare you the meticulous details of my obsession with the band (by saving them for a later post), but just take my word for the fact that they kick lots and lots of ass.

Their new album, which I’ve been psyched about for a long time, is now officially out, and I can’t find it anywhere. I don’t have a credit card in Germany, so I’m going to bum one from a friend tonight and order the CD right from the label. Fortunately enough, Arsis just got signed to the biggest and best label in the metal world, Nuclear Blast, which is based in Germany. Plus, if I pay $5 extra on the CD, I get an Arsis t-shirt. Yes, please.

In celebration of the album’s release, the band (or their label, I don’t care whom you credit for it) have posted the video for the title track from the album. The video is third-rate and the song is second-rate, and yet I’m still tossing my popcorn around in excitement.

I of course have a few initial reactions to the song played in the video (please keep in mind I’ve done everything in my power to avoid hearing leaked tracks from this album, because I want the store-bought version to be my first experience of it), and while I know that I should wait to hear the album in its entirety before judging, especially harshly, here are some off the cuff gripes.

• This sounds more like a blending of the styles of many musicians than the work of one man. I mean this in a bad way.
• The solos are wankier than I’ve come to expect from Arsis, and it sounds like there are two solos, one right after the other. This technique should only be used when the guitarist playing the second solo has something to build upon, or can somehow complement what the first guitarist just got done expressing. In this case, the second guitarist, whoever the hell it was, just shambled after, copping the tapping runs and overplaying the bends, because that’s what you do when you don’t have anything to say musically in a metal band (although the argument could be made that the same is true in blues and country).
• The drumming is thoroughly uninspired. The drummer doesn’t even give us a decent blastbeat throughout the entire piece, which I guess is acceptable given that this song is supposed to have an anthemic “ballad” feel. Still, the syncopated metalcore-influenced staccato hits don’t fight the rhythm of the guitars enough, and so are boring. This drummer has a lot to live up to in the Arsis pantheon, and this song was not a nice debut in my opinion.
• I do think the that the line “We are the nightmare, we are the chosen silence” is pretty spiffy, given the band’s name, but then, I’ve never had reason to complain about James in any respect. All the gripes here have to do with less James and more of these other buffoons. (Yes, “buffoons.)

That’s about it for now. I’ll order the CD tonight, remain sleepless for days on end until it arrives, then listen to it many times in a row and write a several-page-long blog post about it.

At least you know it’s coming.