http://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-a ... 1102_n.jpg

This is from the Mark Riddick FB page.

The Track listing from what I can see is as follows (If anyone can read the titles better and can help, or sees I wrote something wrong, feel free to correct me)

1. "Handbook For the Recently Deceased"
2. "Carve My Cross"
3. "Unwelcome"
4. "Choking On Sand"
5. "Let Me Be the One"
6. "(Sunglasses?) at night"
7. "(No idea) or Mourning"
8. "No One Lies to the Dead"
9. "(No idea) in shame"
10. "Scornstar"
11. "The face of my Innocence"

The bottom right of the picture is the unfinished album cover. They also seem to have modified their logo. I cannot wait for this record. I've loved pretty much everything from Arsis, and the new songs that have been posted are great. This looks to be another great release, along with what I'm guessing is a re-done version of The Face Of My Innocence.

I've never been able to get into this band. Everything from the debut up to the latest album does nothing for me. I'll still give this album a listen when it comes out, though, even if to only confirm the band's inability to sway me.

love the first album and the following ep was great too, but the second album was utterly boring and after that they've just been shit

Their first album is probably one of my favorite melodeath albums, but a redone version of The Face of My Innocence? Damn, that's epic.

^ Still waiting for them to come close or (maybe) surpass their debut effort.

Also, man...they really need to work on the album titles.

I don't think I'm interested at all. I enjoyed everything up to that last turd Starve for the Devil and pretty much had written them off. The art work looks killer, but I have no hopes for the songs. Don't like half the song titles, reminds me of the last one...

Consider me excited for this one. I don't think it's possible for them to beat the debut and the EP, but I'm sure it'll be good. I'm not feeling all this hate for Starve for the Devil, though...

Is there a release date or anything for this yet?
Did they release samples for this and where are they located ?

I hope this is nothing like Starve for the Devil.

no thanks.

I dunno, I liked about 70% of Starve for the Devil, so it wasn't too horrible. I'm pretty certain they're going to decline in quality on this album though.

I honestly really hope this doesn't suck

Album cover and logo looks pretty black metalish, can't see em going BM though, and ive honestly never really got into Arsis, even their first album got boring to me after a few songs

That cover is pretty awesome. I actually hope it stays black & white like that.

I love their first couple albums and EP, but the last couple albums have been pretty so-so. I'm hoping this one is an improvement and they go back to their older sound.

Nobody commenting on the fact that they're apparently redoing "The Face of My Innocence"? That's probably my favorite song of theirs, kind of apprehensive about that one. And "Sunglasses at Night"? Let's not go Bodom on me, Arsis.

But honestly, I do like this band, and I think they're only bad album is We are the Nightmare (my review is pretty outdated, there's only two or three songs worth a damn). Starve for the Devil didn't have many standout tracks and "Forced to Rock" was uncharacteristic and silly, but it still sounded like a regular Arsis song, it just had tardforce lyrics. And I'm not sure why United in Regret gets as much hate as it does. Maybe because it isn't as good as the stuff before it so it was a disappointment? I dunno, I think it does the same thing as the first album almost as well. They're very good at being very technical while also being extremely melodic and catchy. They're one of the most accessible tech death bands and they do it quite well, and they've never really deviated off the path they've set for themselves so I don't expect this to be a huge flop unless the songwriting takes another dive like it did with the third album. Also, off the top of my head, I can't think of any bands that sound exactly like them, they've got that going for them too.

I really enjoy their debut from time to time, but those song titles suck ass. Hope that isn't an indicator. But then again the new Sonata Arctica song titles were bad and that album is great, so who knows.

Well if you want a taste of the music on this album, you could check out these drum live recordings:
Scornstar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEAtj1m2 ... r_embedded
Carve my Cross: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6td3hmPa ... r_embedded

Starve for the devil was absolute shit, but their newer demo tracks Choking on Sand and Since the Shadows aren't too bad.

You can check them out here
Choking on sand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmMXfCiiP3U
Since the shadows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8WPpCxLn4A

Well I actually like the demo of those 2 songs linked. More like the Arsis I remember. and I think We are the Nightmare is far surperior to Starve for Failure.
Oh yea I don't like the fact they are re-recording that song either.

We Are The Nightmare is my favourite Arsis album ( slowly backs away.)

This is why people on here don't take you seriously.

I don't believe you're in a position to speak for the majority. Anyways, that album was insanely wanky while remaining the catchiest music they've ever written.

The band is decent I really liked Starve for the devil, and some parts of United in Regret weren't bad when they actually wrote good riffs and not a clusterfuck of pointless noodling. The band is kind of hit or miss but if they continue the stripped down rockish quality of their last LP, this album will be decent as well.

Sorry, if they continue down the stripped down rockish quality of the last album I know more people will not bother getting it cause that's what they hated about it, myself included. And i'm stating this based on the overwhelming backlash among those who I personally know and those I talk with online on various sites. I think I had only knew of now 2 people who really liked that album and that would include you.

Judging by the 4 songs I listened to they are not. And it also says on their facebook that 'The Face of My Innocence is a bonus track...meaning it's possibly a live recording. Seeing it's a 'bonus' track, that would be my guess unless Shawn Priest really wanted to show how much he can rip it up on drums.

He is.

Also the demos sound alright, "Since the Shadows" seems more interesting than "Choking on Sand". The latter is almost too Arsis-y if that makes any sense. If they were to write songs on auto-pilot, they'd come out like that, it feels like there's a bit more effort involved in the former.

I'm honestly surprised with the hate of Arsis here. Their "wanky" style of playing goes well with their branch of Melodeath. My fav tracks from their past efforts were "My Oath to Madness", "Servants of The Night" and "We Are The Nightmare." They're catchy as hell and I'm standing with Necrotism here.

I wouldn't say that an average review score of 94% (between 19 reviews) for the debut is, well, hating per se.

However, their more wanky material gets flak for sure, and this is for a reason: I like good tech death, but on We Are the Nightmare, Arsis certainly do not play good tech death. The musicianship is there, but the songs and the cool ideas aren't.

With that being said, I'll check this album out when it drops by, but I am not expecting anything great. The early stuff is something I spin when in the mood, which is not too often.

Exactly. Arsis's technical skills are damn good and they write great melodies, but on We are the Nightmare, there's no personality or any kind of unique trait that identifies them as Arsis. You could slap the Necrophagist logo on that album and it wouldn't turn any heads.

How many times have you actually heard the album? Seeing how much you seem to dislike it, I'm guessing not many. They don't sound like Necrophagist at all, because they employ actual songwriting. I could remember most of the cool parts after one listen.

It's a jumbled mess of riffs and shit. Everything is disjointed and the melodies never flow well. So, they are neither overtly disjointed and technical nor melodic and enjoyable. Arsis becomes something in between, a mangled goop of a band. Instead of coming off as a good band who happen to write technical music, they come off as technical guys who never had a grasp on songwriting.

See, I just can't agree with that. The drumming is all over the place, yes (my least favourite part of the album) but all the songs have a clear verse/chorus structure which flows a lot better than bands like Brain Drill (bands which fit what you just said more, Frog.)

This is an example of godawful song writing and probably the best example of the shit sound of that album:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oEIyJEKlwgM

How anyone can enjoy this is beyond me...

hahaha, that's one of my favourite songs on the album. We agree on a lot of things, but this isn't one of them buddy
I'm crazy for those sweeps.

yeah I'll just have to accept that. I've never been a big technical guy (go figure!!!!) so that song just rubs me the wrong way. If there is going to be technicality, I'd prefer something like DsO - just really reverb'd out and dis-harmonic.

Not heard it lately, but I'm also not about to go listen to it again just because you say you can remember it...me I never could remember anything off of it. Just goes to show ya I guess.

Same here! I really don't get all the hate on it.

Well, did you get into Arsis via that album or ACOG?

Speaking from a personal point of view, when ACOG came out...the buzz around Arsis grew exponentially in the underground. They were a raw new band which incorporated all kinds of styles and had a tremendous vibe. That's what I liked about the band then. The newer Arsis albums are too polished and mellowed down. I can't connect with the songs coz I feel that raw energy is lacking. I'm not saying that WATN is a bad record. It may be technically proficient and groovy etcetera. So if that's something you got into first, you might enjoy it more and it'll be more memorable for you. If you did check out ACOG before these newer releases...then I can't explain any further :-s

That's definitely an interesting point. I heard Nightmare quite a while before their other albums.

I got into Arsis with ACOG when it came out, hell I was awaiting the release and I still think We Are the Nightmare is really good. I enjoyed everything up till the last album.

^ Cool. I really wish I could've liked the other albums more...they seemed to have lost that seriousness which I felt they had the first record.

Case in point - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jYnXBwjG7k

Anywho, like I've been anticipating before all their previous releases, I hope the album delivers coz I like the band and even if I can't digest some the newer material, I'll hope for some diamonds in the rough.