While Unwelcome successfully mixed a little of the Starve For the Devil‘s more commercial, rock feel with the band’s high octane, Carcass on meth melodeath, Vistatant is a return to the pure, adrenaline fueled technical, melodic fury of the bands first trio of albums and it mostly fucking rips, delivering almost 50, seemingly cathartic  minutes of shredding, catchy brilliance that never gets too shreddy ot techy, (i.e . Archspire, Inferi) keeping its melodic death metal roots, while still baring its teeth.

Charging out of the gate with a the energy of a 4 year layoff, the first three tracks “Tricking the Gods”, standout “Hellsworn”, and rollicking “Easy Prey”  the album immediately grabs your attention from the get go. The album’s mid section suffers as a result of the high energy opening as solid tracks like “Fathoms”, “As Deep as Your Flesh” and weakest cut, “A Pulse Keeping Time With the Dark”  all a bit more controlled get a bit overlooked by the sheer velocity of the album’s steamrolling opening. But the the album picks back up with “Funereal Might” and standouts in the savagely melodic “Dead Is Better” and penultimate killer track “Under the Knife”, which is one of the better tracks of the band’s entire discography.

Admittedly the 48 minute, 11 songs (including an album ending cover of Pseudo Echo‘s “His Eyes”, whoever that is), does start to drag on a smidge, especially with the intensity levels so high throughout, but in musical terms, and ‘arsis’ is a upward beat or stroke in a a composition, and Visitant is most triumphant an upswing for this band.

So here is Malone with another line up, attempting to rebound with Unwelcome and it sees Malone finding a bit of a more fluid balance between the band’s early frenetic material and a more tempered, rock based commercial sound. And for the most part it works. Other than the blasting cover of Cory Hart’s “I Wear Sunglasses at Night”, there’s nothing as campy or cringe inducing on Unwelcome as there was on Starve for the Devil.

The title tracks bursts out of gate, showing that Malone is as focused and skilled (especially vocally) as he was early on in the band’s career and his new supporting cast is up to the challenge, particularly relatively unknown drummer Shawn Priest, who really adds some ferocity to Arisis‘s formidable melodies. Second track “Carve My Cross” (from the Lepers Caress Ep) is an early standout with some very nifty shreddage and lead work before the furious double bass salvo that starts “Handbook for the Recently Deceased”, which is one of the more crossover tracks melding some shout along choruses and rock riffs and lead work with the blistering initial assault.

Luckily, for the most part, the balance is a little heavier towards early Arsis rather than Starve Arsis though as most of the tracks are more intense, busy and technical (“Choking on sand”, “Martyred or Mourning”, “No One Lies to the Dead”, “I Share in Shame” and second standout “Scornstar”), with only a few minor moments of more tepid Heartwork styled prose (the aforementioned “Handbook…”, “Let Me Be The One”).

As a bonus, the digipack version of Unwelcome comes with the 2012 Lepers Caress Scion AV EP, where Starve For the Devil‘s memory was already being erased with some stellar material harking back to the band’s first 3 efforts like “Veil of Mourning Black”, “A Tearful Haunt, My Departure” (even the song titles seem to be from the first three albums). Also, there is a redo of “The Face of My Innocence” from A Celebration of Guilt, but that really only serves to show how GOOD that debut was, but the additional 20 minutes makes Unwelcome even more worthwhile (even with the double up of “Carve My Cross” and a re-released track).

Though not quite a full on return to glory, Unwelcome is a marked improvement for Arsis, even if the genre might be on its last legs and it shows at times, Arsis and particularly Malone, has the potential to be a real difference maker in US metal if he can keep his head on straight and keep a stable line up.

“At this point ARSIS has more than a few releases in our catalogue and we are about to have one more, Unwelcome,” commented founder and lead guitarist/vocalist James Malone. “Of all the albums we have done, Unwelcome is an album that I wanted to define the band’s sound. We were all focused for the writing and recording and the end product reflects this.  Get ready for Unwelcome to see the light of day on April 30th through Nuclear Blast USA and for ARSIS to be destroying the new material live throughout May with HYPOCRISY, KRISIUN, and ABORTED!!!”

“We’re excited to be back out on the road after spending down-time rebuilding the band and recording both Unwelcome and Leper’s Caress,” added bassist Noah Martin. “Down to the artwork, Unwelcome is by far the most raw and brutal album ARSIS has released with Nuclear Blast. Upon its release, we look forward to a very busy 2013 touring season, seeing all our old friends and making new ones. If Canadian fans want to bring some homemade poutine to a show, I would be forever indebted to you.”

Unwelcome was tracked at Audiohammer Studios in FL with producer Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, WHITECHAPEL, DEVILDRIVER, DEICIDE, SIX FEET UNDER). The follow up to their 2010 release Starve For The Devil is tentatively scheduled for a first quarter of 2013 release via Nuclear Blast.

Fans can hear the debut of new guitarist Brandon Ellis and drummer/longtime session member Shawn Priest on the SCION A/V Leper’s Caress EP, which can be downloaded for free here http://www.scionav.com/collection/1287/Arsis—Lepers-Caress.

The video clip for the ARSIS song “Carve My Cross”, taken from the same EP, can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c66W3A8QEhQ.

Starve For The Devil was released in North America on February 9^th 2010 and debuted at No. 13 on the Billboard Heatseekers chart, which lists the best-selling albums by new and developing artists who have never appeared in the Top 100 of The Billboard 200.

HYPOCRISY, KRISIUN, ABORTED, ARSIS

5/01/13 The Gramercy – New York, NY *

5/02/13  Palace – Stafford, CT *

5/03/13  Foufounes Electriques – Montreal, QC *
5/05/13  The Foundry – Cleveland, OH *

5/04/13  WreckRoom – Toronto, ON *

5/06/13  Reggie’s – Chicago, IL *

5/07/13  Station 4 – St. Paul, MN *

5/08/13  The Zoo – Winnipeg, MB *

5/09/13  The Exchange – Regina, SK *

5/10/13  Pawn Shop – Edmonton, AB *

5/11/13  Republik – Calgary, AB *

5/13/13  Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, BC *

5/14/13  Studio Seven – Seattle, WA **
5/16/13  Oakland Metro – Oakland, CA **

5/17/13  The Vex – Los Angeles, CA **

5/18/13  Joe’s Grotto – Tempe, AZ **

5/20/13  Trees – Dallas, TX **

5/21/13  Korova – San Antonio, TX **

*with STARKILL

**with AUTUMN’S END

ARSIS is:
James Malone – Guitars/Vocals
Noah Martin – Bass
Shawn Priest – Drums
Brandon Ellis – Guitar

For more info visit: www.facebook.com/ARSIS | www.nuclearblastusa.com

The overall vibe of the album is kinda rock-ish, from the song structures down to some of the smaller musical nuances throughout the album, and a great reduction in technicality. Album opener “Forced to Rock” is perhaps the best example this – it’s a good song and gets the head banging, but the shift is immediately apparent. Malone’s playing is still impressive and at times dazzling, but within the context of simpler and more straight forward structures, which makes it feel somewhat restrained.

One of my biggest gripes of the album though is just how much better and more memorable the first half is compared to the second – it’s extremely top heavy. Most of the tracks from the second half, with the exception of the humorously titled “Half Past Corpse O’Clock”, feel like half baked filler. The yawn inducing “Closer to Cold”, “Escape Artist” and exceptionally dull closer “Sable Rising” pale in comparison to the shredtastic “The Ten of Swords”, the smooth hooks of “Beyond Forlorn” or the impossible-not-to-headbang-to “A March For the Sick”.

Starve For the Devil isn’t a bad album by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s far from Arsis‘ shining moment. Those who felt We Are the Nightmare was too technical and pined for the band’s sound circa A Celebration of Guilt will most likely be more than pleased with this.

The two hour drive from my home to Pop’s in St. Louis (Sauget, Ill to be exact – right across the river from Downtown) is always a long one, but I’m more than willing to make it to see a good show. Death Angel, God Forbid, Arsis and Light This City is certainly a good one, as I’m a fan of all four, ranging from casual fan (Light This City) to all out fanatic (Death Angel).

We walked in the venue to find a local band opening the show by the name of Soul Descenders. I had heard of them before, but until now had never gotten a chance to see them perform. I must say they weren’t that bad, playing thrash that seemed to border on the classic Bay Area style, while also borrowing a bit from newer bands ala Sanctity or Wolfpack Unleashed. These kids were young – I’d say between the ages of 17-21, and were full of energy, running about the stage, headbanging, windmilling, and obviously loving every minute of it. The vocalist/guitarist pulled a few jump and kick-mid-air moves along with some other clichéd moves that made me laugh out loud. Both guitarists shared lead duties, soloing and shredding though about 7 songs. All in all, I enjoyed their performance and their music, though some of the clean vocals need some work, coming off at times as almost whiney, but that’s a minor complaint on their otherwise good show.

Next up was Light This City, the female fronted thrash/death band from San Francisco. I was first exposed to the band with 2006’s Facing the Thousand, and album that registered pretty high on that years best of list for me, so I was eager to check them out live. The biggest thing for me coming into their performance was to see if the female front was genuine, or if it felt like a gimmick ala In This Moment – I’m glad to say it’s the former. Laura Nichol is the real deal, screaming and growling (no clean vocals) her way through songs as well as any man, and putting on a top notch performance without flaunting the fact that she is indeed female. Their set was, from what I could tell, comprised of songs from 2005’s Remains of the Gods and their most recent, Facing the Thousand as well as a new song from their forthcoming album this fall, and all were finely executed slabs of death/thrash with hints of melody here and there. I have no real complaints to report – their sound was good enough, there were no fuck ups to speak of, and they were highly energetic – what more could you ask for out of a live show?

Arsis – I had just seen them a month prior in Columbia, MO on tour with The Black Dahlia Murder, and they played a good set, though their sound guy kind of ruined it, jacking the drums and vocals through the roof, leaving the guitars and bass buried in the middle – I was hoping this kink would be worked out here so I could thoroughly enjoy their set as they’ve been my favorite thus far this year with new release We Are the Nightmare.

Though just days before the show, it was announced that drummer Darren Cesca was out, and Alex Tomlin was in. To make matters worse, St. Louis was to be his first show with the band, so I was praying he didn’t fuck things up. Much to my dismay, he did.

The first three songs, all from older releases (“The Face of My Innocence” being the only one I can identify by name), seemed to be fine, with the exception of James Malone being like a statue up there, where as in Columbia, he did plenty of headbanging when not on vocals. It was at this point he explained he had been suffering from a killer toothache and had just had it pulled – I gotta give him props for soldiering it out as toothaches are no joke, especially when doing vocals. After this, they launched into “Sightless Wisdom”, and at first things went fine, but then Malone skipped the second verse lyrics, and all the lyrics at the end of the song – no biggie really given his condition, but the drums also seemed to be off a bit. Then came the title track from We Are the Nightmare, and things got real bad, real quick. Malone skipped all vocals, Tomlin butchered the drum parts early on, and struggled to get back on track while both Malone and other guitarist Ryan Knight threw a couple glances his way. About mid way through, Malone took off his guitar, set it down, tied his hair back, put on his glasses and just glared at Tomlin. At this point, I had had quite enough, so I made a bee-line for the bar then outside to smoke. Shortly after coming outside, the person I was there with came out to inform me they ended the set after that – good thing too, as that was probably the worst thing I had ever witnessed on stage. I hope that next time they come around, they’ll have their shit together and give me a vicious performance.

A couple cigarettes later, I headed back inside for God Forbid and got a surprise – Death Angel was coming on and God Forbid would be closing the show. I had forgotten that this was a co-headlining thing and that this might happen – oh well, I like both bands quite a bit and I was certainly ready to see the mighty Death Angel.

The Bay Area legends came on stage with a fire, kicking things off with monster lead-off track “Lord of Hate” from new album Killing Season, and continued kicking ass through their whole set. Frontman Mark Osegueda made it very clear at every chance he got to tell us how happy they were to be there, and how thankful they were for each of us being there, and it showed in each and every song. The whole performance ace and 100% pro – one of the best shows I’ve ever seen by any band – full of energy and enthusiasm, regardless of there only being 200 or so people in attendance. Most of the material they played was from Killing Season, but they also treated us to “Seemingly Endless Time” from the seminal Act III, “Voracious Souls” and “Kill as One” from the equally seminal debut The Ultra-Violence, one song I couldn’t quite identify from either Frolic Through the Park or The Art of Dying (I’m leaning towards the former though), and closed the show out with “Thrown to the Wolves” from 2004’s “comeback” album The Art of Dying. A most stellar performance that inspired me to lose my voice and headbang until it hurt – something that no band I’ve seen live has done in the past couple years. My hats off to them and can’t wait to see them again.

Still riding the high Death Angel left me with, God Forbid came on stage with a fury almost on par with the former band and I was digging it. The first couple songs went smoothly, but during the third, some jackass that I had noticed had been sitting the entire show until now was in the pit – not a bad thing, but then being a jackass, he had to start fucking with the people on the edge of the pit who were just trying to watch the show, such as myself, knocking half of my fresh $5 Guinness on the floor. This brought me down pretty quick, as my eyes were fixated on him instead of the band, until moments later he disappeared. Shortly thereafter, he reappeared and ran into me again – by now I had finished my beer and sent him flying the other way, only to watch him start shit with other people. By now, an employee had come to clean up my spilled beer and we had informed him to keep an eye out for this guy – 10 minutes later, they were wrestling him to the floor and throwing him out – this is what you get for being a drunken retard at a show.

Back to God Forbid. I was stilled pissed and on somewhat of a down note and couldn’t quite into their set as I was before, though I must say this being the fourth time I’d seen them live, they put on a show equally as good as each time before. It was solid as they ripped through songs primarily from 2004’s Gone Forever and 2005’s IV: Constitution of Treason with high energy and intensity, but also treated us to a new tune from their forthcoming album due this summer/fall, and one or two older songs that I’m not quite so familiar with.

All in all, it was a show with several ups and downs. Soul Descenders, Light This City and Death Angel on the upside, Arsis’ new drummer and my spilled Guinness being on the downside. I had expected this to be my favorite show of the year thus far, and pretty much got what I expected save those couple bad moments. I highly urge all who get a chance to see Death Angel – it’ll be well worth the ticket price.

“Although we had a great run over the past year and a half with drummer Darren Cesca [whose work is featured on the band’s latest album, We Are The Nightmare], we have decided to stop working with him in Arsis. The reasoning behind this decision is simply differences in personalities and an overall difference in direction. Darren is an amazing musician and we harbor no ill feelings towards him. We wish him all the best. We are most excited to announce that Alex Tomlin, a long time friend of ours and an outstanding drummer, will be replacing Darren. His first shows with us will be on the ‘In Thrash We Trust’ tour starting this Wednesday. Come out and support Arsis and the new addition to our line-up!”

Visit www.myspace.com/Arsis to view “In Thrash We Trust” tour dates.

The animated version of the Arsis video for “We Are The Nightmare” will soon debut on MTV2’s Headbangers Ball. Stay tuned for air date!

The jagged, stuttering, rapid-fire drum patterns of Darren Cesca are nothing short of amazing – sometimes blasting and sometimes displaying flashy hand-work, his skills really shine through on every track here. The real ear candy though is the astounding guitar work – James Malone and Ryan Knight is a tandem to be reckoned with. The title track, “Sightless Wisdom”, “Servants to the Night”, “A Feast For the Liar’s Tongue” and album closer “Failures Conquest” all serve as great reference points for their dominance of their instrument while retaining a great sense of melody and hook. As for the lyrics and vocals of Malone, I’ll just say this: hey emo bands, are you taking notes? This is how you write and present songs of pain and anguish without sounding like a whiney bitch.

The production of We Are the Nightmare is perfectly fitting – it allows all of the intricacies and nuances of the material to be fully heard and recognized. I’d credit Arsis with being one of the freshest sounding and most technically ambitious bands in extreme metal, let alone the over-saturated melodic death genre. To be completely honest, I was a bit worried of what this album would sound like when I heard that Malone would be letting the reigns go a bit and allow the other members to contribute to the writing process, but much to my delight, I’ve been foolishly shamed. Arsis not only proved me wrong, but they’ve flown right past any of their prior output with an album that can only be described as amazing, and one that pushes at what can be done within the confines of extreme metal.

Does We Are the Nightmare represent you better as an artist?
James Malone: Definitely, but the thing with United in Regret was the recording was a little out of whack. The drums were recorded in one month, the rhythm guitars were laid down a month later, and we went back six months later to finish up the vocals and leads. We mixed the album while we were on tour. We didn’t have as much time to work on it that we needed.

I hear a little bit of Death, Euchartist, Dissection, and At the Gates. Do you think you transcended those influences?
Malone: I’d like to think I’ve transcended my influences a little bit. In all honesty, I don’t listen to a lot of metal right now. I’m kind of stuck on ‘80s New Wave. I don’t listen to metal at all for personal enjoyment. When I do listen to metal it’s on tour. I watch the bands we tour with. I didn’t have the mindset when writing this album that I wanted to sound like something I had just heard an hour earlier. I like to think I’ve transcended my influences to a degree.

So, what New Wave bands are you into?
Malone: I love Duran Duran. They had a side project called Arcadia. The album was So Red The Rose. It’s a very pretentious Duran Duran. But it’s amazing. Great songwriting. There’s hooks all over the place. It’s amazing. We had a Depeche Mode cover on United in Regret. That was fun. I also like New Order, Electronic, The Cure. All that stuff.

Do you think New Wave bands could directly influence Arsis?
Malone: I would like to. If I find a proper or clever way of doing it I most certainly will. That’ll be my next project.

What metal albums have impressed you over the last few years?
Malone: I haven’t heard too many things come out in the last five years that have piqued my interest. Maybe Vital Remains’ Dechristianize. I thought Dimmu Borgir’s Puritanical… album was pretty amazing when it first came out. I was impressed with that. I stick to my staples [laughs].

There are a ton of split Carcass-styled vocals on We Are the Nightmare. Why did you end up having Derron [Cesca] split the vocals?
Malone: For more diversity in the vocals. The attack. In the past, especially on the Arsis demos, I felt more confident in my guttural vocals. As of late, I don’t know if cigarettes or poor health in general, but I don’t feel super-confident in my lower or guttural voice. Derron has a great low vocal, so I didn’t see why I shouldn’t include him in the vocal performance. He adds another dimension to the vocals. We try not to overdo it, as doubling is a terrible idea. We really tried to take our time to make sure where we’re doing it was effective and the vocals made sense. We weren’t doing just because. I felt the sections where we incorporated that technique had a purpose.

How did you find Derron? I don’t remember the story.
Malone: We had just played a show with his old band Burn in Silence a couple of weeks before our old drummer Mike VanDyne quit. I hit him up on Myspace and the rest was history. I think he was looking to do something more along the lines of Arsis, as far as music goes. We figured we might as well give it a try.

Derron plays four different snare drums. What was the recording set-up like?
Malone: In the studio they tried to pan the snare drums, as if you were standing in front of the kit. The middle snare, which is his main snare, comes out of both speakers. And the left and right snare, which are piccolo and popcorn snares, only come out of the left and right speakers. There’s a deeper snare is off to one side. It’s all panned as if you were standing in front of him. I remember, the last weekend we were recording, we went to see Firewind in New Hampshire. Gus and I had spent some time together at Berklee—we’ve known each other since we were 17. I remember playing the rough mixes for Gus and he’d be like, “Where’d the snare go?” I had to explain to him how the four snares were used and recorded. Once he understood what was going on, he thought it was pretty cool.

You’ve said We Are the Nightmare is your most accomplished album. Why do you think that is?
Malone: The addition of Ryan on guitar. He’s an amazing guitar player. His solos are amazing. Just having someone like that to work with was a great experience.

Are you intimidated by other players? Do you watch what other players are doing?
Malone: I probably used to worry about that when I was younger. I’m pretty confident in myself and my abilities. I know what my limitations are. I realize everybody is going to have strong or weak points. I want to make the most of what I have to offer. I put it out there the way it is and hope people appreciate it.

You’re a properly trained musician, right?
Malone: I started playing violin at age 10. I played all the way through college. Well, the first couple of semesters of college. I went to Berklee College of Music in Boston as well as another university in Virginia. I was studying college-level music theory and composition by the time I was 16.

What made switch from violin to guitar?
Malone: When I was 14 I purchased Mercyful Fate’s Don’t Break the Oath. I was very fascinated by how dark and epic it was. I wanted to create something along those lines.

I realized how much single-note stuff was going on. We Are the Nightmare would sound pretty comfortable on violin.
Malone: Definitely. The violin is a more single-note instrument. The guitar is more chord-based. The violin rubbed off on me, as I’m quite fond of the single-note guitar stuff. I’ve always been more of legato player, with all the tapping. The way I play guitar is probably reminiscent of the way I play violin.

Do you still play violin?
Malone: I do. When I go home my father makes me play duets with him. They sound pretty good. My intonation is pretty good, but probably could be better if I practiced more often. I just haven’t had the time in the past couple of years. We’ll play for my mother if she asks.

What does your dad think of you switching from violin to guitar?
Malone: I saw him last weekend. He reminded me of a promise I made to him that I wouldn’t give up the violin. He’s like, “Well, you’re not dead yet, so you can probably pick it up whenever you want.”

Were your parents a motivator for picking up an instrument?
Malone: I remember in fifth grade when I started playing violin. I probably wanted to play a trumpet or something. Before I decided on violin, my mom said, “Why don’t you play the violin? We have one around the house and there’s a strings class.” They knew I wanted to play an instrument, and it made sense since we had the instrument in the house.

Is your dad a professional musician?
Malone: My dad is a rocket scientist by profession. He has a Ph.D in aerospace engineering. He works for NASA. He still plays in a community orchestra. It’s something he did when he was younger. I think after he got into aerospace engineering, he decided to pick up the violin again.

You’ve been living with the album for a while now. What’s your favorite song?
Malone: I’m really fond of “Servants to the Night,” the last track “Failures Conquest,” or “My Oath to Madness.” I also really like “Sightless Wisdom.” So, one of those four I’m sure is my favorite [laughs].

Noah told me when you were in studio you were drinking cheap beer and it inspired you to include the Frosty the Snowman theme in one of the solos on “Failures Conquest.”
Malone: I did it as a joke. Zeuss thought it was pretty cool, but Ryan knew exactly what I had done. He was on the floor laughing. Half the population that listens to the record won’t even notice it. It’s cleverly disguised. I had Cacophony in mind. They’d do a weird melody or solo from a circus theme every so often. It was the last night I was tracking guitars, so I wanted to have a good time and entertain myself. It’s the main melody. The first five notes. It’s in the second solo, near the end of the songs. I do some whammy bar flutters, so it kind of sounds like Andy La Roque trying to play children’s music. I had probably been drinking some Natural Light at the time, so the cheap beer or box wine probably had something to do with it. I did that for my ex-fiancée’s daughter. She really liked that song.

How personal is the album?
Malone: It’s very personal. I want people to come up with their own interpretations of my lyrics though. I’m not too worried about my lyrics being out there, ‘cause they are open to different explanations. I write in an obscure manner.

You’ve had words like “regret,” “disease,” “nightmare,” and “guilt” in your album titles. Is there a connection there?
Malone: Yes, regret and guilt are emotions I’m most familiar with. I’m not Catholic, but I probably should be. In fact, I used to work for a Catholic church. Some of the lyrics for the first album are a play on words though. But not poking fun at the Catholic faith. A Celebration of Guilt, for example, came from my time as an Assistant Music Minister. Every time I’d go to work on Sunday, I though people were coming to church to celebrate their guilt. That’s where that came from. I’m very familiar with the concept of guilt. It’s a big part of my life. I have a conscience, which is a good thing in this day and age. Could be worse.

Tell me about the video shoot. How did you find the location?
Malone: I lived in West Virginia for a number of years. West Virginia is a very beautiful state, but it’s also quite strange. There’s a ton of abandoned towns all over the place. They’re old coal mining towns. Somebody would buy the coal mine and eventually it would go out of business. These towns would just dry up and people would move away. The location was shot about 20 minutes where I used to reside in a town called Stotesbury, West Virginia. It’s an abandoned coal camp town. We shot the video in an old church. It was the African-American Baptist Church. I don’t know when it was abandoned, but there’s no running water or restroom facilities. It was a fairly old church. An old co-worker and bandmate of mine showed me the location—he was from West Virginia—, and used to go around looking for old, abandoned buildings to explore. It’s fascinating. This old church in the middle of some hills, completely abandoned. It was pretty fitting to shoot the video there. We had just finished the album, so the shoot was sort of signaled the end of my days in West Virginia. My relationship had ended. It was closure in a sense.

I heard you almost died.
Malone: I fell through the floor. Not sure if I would’ve died, but had the assistant not been there to catch me it might not have been good. I fell up to my crotch. I was also chased by a pack of dogs. I was trying to go talk to the only neighbor to let them know what we were doing. I guess their dogs didn’t like me walking down their driveway, so I was chased.

There’s some other church stories, right?
Malone: There was this girl I was seeing at the time who wasn’t from West Virginia. We were sitting in her vehicle near the location. All of a sudden, a caravan of 4-wheelers pass by us. We locked the doors. I thought of Deliverance. Like what the hell are they doing out here? They had a cooler strapped to one of the 4-wheelers. They just hung out by the church, drank Bud Light, and talked to us as we went back and forth getting supplies for the video shoot. They were nice guys, but at first we were a little scared. We were in the middle-of-nowhere, West Virginia. They said they had ridden for like 20 miles. They obviously had nothing better to do on that Sunday.

Oh, come on. There’s more stories than that.
Malone: [laughs] We were out there checking the location on the first day to see how we’d get the generator out there. You have to go up a mountain to leave the area where the church was, as we looked back down—of course, it was the fall and the leaves were off the trees—and we saw a vehicle near the church. There was no way it could’ve gotten down there without us seeing it or passing us. There were no houses around there where people have vehicles. Maybe there was a dirt path that I’m not aware of. There were some other strange things I’ve seen around that place. The first time I went out there, which was like six months before we shot the video, there was some debris on the ground. Somebody leaned all these boards—which probably came from the church—up against the church in a weird pattern. There definitely was some logic involved. Very Blair Witch. I don’t know how into the supernatural you are, but the still pictures we took there had these orbs in them. I guess people think it’s spectral energy. Who knows if they were dust particles or reflections of something, but they’re in the photos. I was hoping something would happen that nobody could explain, but that didn’t happen.

Mark Riddick did an amazing job on the cover. How much input did you have?
Malone: We may’ve had some input on color or tone choices, but the imagery is all Mark’s. The only album I ever stuck my fingers in was the A Diamond for Disease cover. I had something specific in mind for that album. I just let Mark do his Riddick magic. His brother did the layout and coloring. Mark did the illustrations. I think it came out very good. I’m pleased.

The color palette is cool. Muted, earth tones.
Malone: Had I been my way it would’ve had blues and purples in it. That wouldn’t have worked [laughs].

How was your time with Zeuss?
Malone: He’s got an amazing ear. He’s a Pro Tools wiz. A super-cool dude. At the end of the night, he’d open up a Coors Light and hang out with us. He loves metal to death. He had a lot of good suggestions for vocals and leads. He was never afraid to tell us when we were fucking up. It definitely helped having an extra set of ears that weren’t from the band. He wasn’t worried about hurting people’s feelings. He was just concerned the product was as best as it could be.

How was the time spent with the band? It’s like being on tour for a month in the same city.
Malone: It was like being on tour. We lived together. We had no money whatsoever. It was Ramen noodles, cheap beer and wine every night. We spent time looking up goofy YouTube videos to entertain ourselves. Noah would put on softcore porn and play bass to it every night. The porn bass was awesome. You’ll be able to see it on the DVD that will come with limited edition of the album. It was like a sleepover from middle school gone bad for a month straight.

How did Zeuss come into the picture?
Malone: He was recommended to us by the record label. Gerardo at Nuclear Blast had heard the new Municipal Waste record that Zeuss had worked on. He was impressed by it. After checking into Zeuss’s work, I felt he could help Arsis. His work is very polished and that’s something that was lacking on our previous Arsis records. I always wanted a big, polished sound.

You wanted that?
Malone: Oh yeah. I wanted an extreme metal album that had a Winger or Ratt production. Over-the-top stuff. I was very pleased with the way it came out.

Let me tell you, the 13 minute center piece of this criminally teasing EP was written to accompany the Ballet Deviare is a dizzying display is melodic extremity, stunningly symphonic artful dissection and flat out fucking sickening skill. It’s a pity the rest of the EP is a bit of a let down (a cover of Alice Cooper’s ‘Roses on White Lace’, and the splendid but short ‘The Promise of Never’), but for ‘A Diamond for Disease’ alone, this is a worthy purchase.

The Wagnerian approach to the guitar work is beyond the usual melodic death metal frivolity making even the chaotic yet epic Epoch of Unlight and the most urgent early melodics of Dark Tranquility look like Crowbar on barbiturates. It has to be heard to be believed. James Malone’s progressive yet slicing riffage is Dream Theater on Meth while listening to Human. Its so goddamned sonorous yet biting hat the whole 13 minutes I’m left enraptured and enthralled as the vortex of skill swirls about me. It’s not pretentious or showy either, as each angle and note has purpose and place within the framework of the song’s epic majesty. The pace and genius is also kept up for the entire 13 minutes with delicate shifts in structure and pacing while the guitar work all while shimmers with operatic confidence. Even at its restrained later stages the wind in the hair, atop a mountain solo work is breathtaking. The track left me awestruck.

Having never heard an Alice Cooper song in my life, I can’t comment on the cover track, but it seems jazzed up with Malone’s mind numbing guitar work. ‘The Promise of Never’, a re-recorded demo track, is along the lines of the material on A Celebration of Guilt but is over virtually after it begins, leaving the EP’s title track as the only truly dynamic song on this release. As with A Celebration of Guilt the James Murphy mastering is crystal clear, if slightly baseless, but it allows the guitars to air out and cut a swathe of precision through the swarming, controlled chaos.

The question is can Arsis deliver yet another 8-10 song album of this type of intensity and graceful savagery? I can’t wait to find out.

As with most Willowtip releases, Arsis’s offering is the extremity tipped, red headed, bastard child of a parent genre. Arisis is to melodic death/black metal what Goatsblood is to doom and Watchmaker to grindcore; a shit smeared, befouled spawn of its chosen genre that raises the bar and blurs definitions. A two piece hailing from Virginia, Arisis has taken all that is frilly and window dressed about their Swedish brethren and given it a typically over the top, US makeover laden with urgency and spite, while still retaining the genre’s sense of dynamic melody polish.

The overall sound culls from noticeably Heartwork era Carcass, US thrash metal, with a sprinkling of say Dissection, Necrophobic or Naglfar. The NWSDM vibe is only portrayed in the plentiful layered harmonies, no matter how scathing, and only the genre’s more aggressive contemporaries (At The Gates, Sacrilege, early Ebony Tears and more recently Detonation) could boast this level of balanced harmony and vitriolic grace. No interludes, no clean vocals, no acoustics, no ballad or sonic respites, just 11 superbly crafted tracks of challenging, melodic yet visceral perfection.

Guitarist/bassist/vocalist James Malone crams more riffs, solos and hooks into one song than seems humanly possible and drummer Micheal Van Dyne aids and abets with equal skill. Each track is steeped in harmony on a caustic (a word I find myself using often when reviewing WT releases) level, that veers from traditional upbeat, happy galloping of the Europeans, but instead blast beat laden and menacing sense of melody dripping with malevolence. The album opens with the longest, most complex track, ‘The Face of Innocence’, that sounds what Scholomance would sound like if they went on a hate driven, piss filed killing spree, hopped up on steroids; fatally artistic. ‘Maddening Disdain’ and ‘Seven Whispers Fell Silent (Malone also pens some killer song titles and lyrics), both open with salvos of abrupt precision, but the prior track hefts a subtle layered solo work that’s more Swedish it its delivery, while the latter weaves and slashes with a more razor sharp blackened gait broken up with some impressive slower breaks. The thrashier ‘Return’ and ‘Worship Depraved’ melds their European influences with a distinct US thrash vibe, just sped up and laced with more subtle harmonies. But the brief malevolent breakdown of ‘Carnal Ways to Recreate the Heart’ is pure black metal spite, reminding me of Necrophobic’s ‘The Art of Rebellion’ chorus. The solo heavy ‘Dust and Guilt’ seemed to be the only track that passed by without any significant ‘wow’ factor, but still delivers a high quality by any standard.

 If there was a ‘controlled’ track on the album it’s the lean paced, but still intricate ‘The Sadistic Motives Behind Bereavement Letters’, with superb solos flourishing amid the songs finely honed gait. While standout tracks are hard to pinpoint amid such consistently impressive material, penultimate song ‘Looking to Nothing’ has a certain vehement gallop I found appealing to both my melodic side and satisfying my need for a more solid concrete feel to my metal.

Malone has little variety to his basic acidic scream but it’s full of emotion, and balances his complex guitar work. A superb album by its own rights and its level is raised when you consider the now tired style they play and the origin of the band. Arisis have injected the genre with a sorely needed shot of venom, to counteract the feminization and saturation of a stale, dumbed down genre. Who knew that shot would come from Virginia?

If you are a Willowtip fan, this may surprise you with how melodic it is, but it still carries all the Willowtip values that make them outstanding; great production values and a knack for finding bands within a chosen genre that push the envelope while staying recognizable (Rune is a perfect example). You need this album.