Arsis
United In Regret
Willowtip
The more you ignore unsung tech-death romantics Arsis, the closer they get
Virginia death metal duo Arsis are still trapped in group therapy, waiting for a sign that it’s OK to move on within the seven recognized stages of grief. Somewhere in a musty Kiwanis club rec room, guitarist/vocalist James Malone raises his hand and apologizes for his crippling inability to get over the greatest love of his life. Drummer Michael Van Dyke pats him on the shoulder and later, over stale doughnuts and bad coffee, the two fast friends express relief at breezing past “denial” and not getting stuck on “anger”—the world doesn’t need any more Hatebreeds.
United in Regret is, as its title suggests, somewhat of a lateral move for Malone and Van Dyke—2004’s A Celebration of Guilt already demonstrated that, uh, we’re all united in regret. Still, it’s worth noting that “regret” suggests an interest in making amends and moving beyond the void of generally feeling awful. As with most Byronic song cycles about relationships, the ultimate prognosis (“Hopeless Truth”) is not promising, but it’s interesting to hear Malone continue to hand out roses studded with prickly thorns on “The Marriage Bed” without bringing a rocket launcher to the knife fight.
But my real theory about what happened to Arsis after fulfilling their commitments to the NYC performance troupe Ballet Deviare (culminating in the stunning 12+ minute title track from last year’s A Diamond for Disease EP) is that an accidental fuck-up from the Willowtip shipping department caused two bands to simultaneously switch sides. Neuraxis got the discs intended for their labelmates, were bowled over by the blast beats, and decided that that Arsis were right in painting the future of death metal as melodic. Meanwhile, Malone and Van Dyke got their mitts on Truth Beyond…, discovered that there was room for drum fills amidst clipped song structures, and decided that technical death metal was the way forward.
When the duo plays to their greatest strength—striking a balance between elaborate At the Gates worship and casting a wide net over ’80s thrash metal—the results are breathtaking. The last half of United in Regret is a careful expansion on the sound of A Celebration of Guilt that pays unique dividends on miniature epics like “The Cold Resistance.” But when Malone uses solos as a binding agent, some of the ideas are better left at the Guitar Center showroom: “…And the Blind One Came” diminishes the value of its fretwork through repetition. Still, a jagged reworking of Depeche Mode’s “The Things You Said” allows Arsis to succumb to guilt and regret without embarrassment. And if that ain’t what the sponsors mean by finding the strength to change the things you can and the patience to endure the things you cannot, it’ll have to work for now. Amen. —Nick Green
