RAGINPIT MAGAZINE

Arsis - We Are The Nightmare
Release Date: April 15, 2008

Track Listing:
1. We Are The Nightmare
2. Shattering The Spell
3. Sightless Wisdom
4. Servants To The Night
5. Failing Winds Of Hopeless Greed
6. Overthrown
7. Progressive Entrapment
8. A Feast For The Liars Tongue
9. My Oath To Madness
10. Failure’s Conquest

I must admit right off the bat that I am a sucker for guitar wankery and shredding. Even though I have played the instrument for 20 years, I can’t shred so I have always been impressed with guys (and girls) that can, so I live vicariously through Vai, Satriani, etc. and is also why I enjoy listening to technical death metal. I get the shredding, but also the polyrhythmic drumming and aggressive vocals. So once I pushed play on We Are The Nightmare from this death metal band named Arsis I was immediately impressed, but was also skeptical as to whether this was just some dude showing off with his sweeping arpeggios or if this has substance. Trust me when I say that there is substance and more!

Hailing from Virginia, the band presently consists of founder James Malone on vocals/guitar, Ryan Knight on guitar, Noah Martin on bass and Darren Cesca on drums and backing vocals. Malone and Cesca are former Berklee College of Music students, so that should give you an idea of the level of musicianship that is on this album. My first thought as I listened was that Malone must have brought a broom to the studio because there are sweeps for days on this album. I know that I mentioned wankery before, but this is not that. It is technically complex composition and I would not only consider Malone an excellent songwriter, the bottom line is that he is a composer in my eyes. Stating that this album has cool and interesting technical riffs would be a severe understatement, almost cliché.

It’s tough to pick highlights as I was completely impressed with every track. The classical influence is so prevalent throughout, if the guitars were not distorted, you would at times not believe it was metal and I firmly believe that these compositions would be able to translate well to an orchestral string arrangement. In fact, as I was driving today, the outro to "Failing Winds Of Hopeless Greed" made me wave my hand like a damn conductor. The vocals are definitely reminiscent of Tomas Lindberg of At The Gates, who this band has been compared to in the past, and the drumming is nothing short of amazing. The kicks were a little too triggery for my taste, but the snare had a pretty good tone, which is important for blast beats in my opinion.

The band suggests building a fort and putting on headphones to listen to this album. I think I’m going to go grab some chairs and blankets right now. I would suggest that if you’re a fan of technical death metal, you go out right now and pick this up, build yourself a fort and put this on and listen with headphones post haste!

5 out of 5 Jack & Cokes!

The Shocker
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