| Reviews for Artas's The Healing |
| Just an aggressive medium - 60% |
| Written by autothrall
on November 5th, 2009
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| Artas is a new band performing a hybrid of melodic death and thrash metal with a lot of brutal, simplistic breakdowns which verge on metalcore but never quite arrive there (at least for me, personally). They've got a very pummeling sound, seeming as if were made perfect for the European mosh pit audiences. I'm also kind of surprised this is on Napalm Records, they seem to be branching out lately with some other styles than their black/gothic/avant-garde metal roots. Unfortunately I couldn't get very deep into this album. At times the melodic death elements are quite glorious and remind me of bands like Amon Amarth, they also use some pretty cool vocals and layer in some melodic backup vocals which does tend to work. The downside is the sheer amount of breakdowns that do very little for me as far as my attention. The band is clearly at their best when raging out on faster tracks like "Bastardo" or "The Healing". I don't have the lyrics to the album, but from the titles like "Barbossa" and "A Song of Ice and Fire" they seem to be into some genre stuff. Then again, other titles lead me to believe otherwise. The production on the album is killer: the guitars are chunky, the bass is quite audible and the vocals really stand out. The band's style overall is a bit original, it doesn't confirm strictly to thrash or death metal or even metalcore, just an aggressive medium. The bottom line is just that, beyond the occasional standout riff, many of the songs did nothing for me. -autothrall http://www.fromthedustreturned.com |
| In Need of Some Healing - 55% |
| Written by Daru_Jericho
on October 13th, 2008
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| Artas are an Austrian band playing a blend of extreme metal. The most prevailing genre that arises is death metal but there is a strong metalcore feel. Interestingly enough, the music of The Healing evades the successful trap of becoming deathcore and this is not the only unique attribute the band possesses; song lyrics appear in German, English and Spanish, no two songs sound the same and a metalized cover of the Coolio hit ‘Gangasta’s Paradise’ finds its way on the album. All this and it is just the band’s debut. Overall, the album is relentless and bursting with aggression. Most of the riffs are strenuous and intense, as can be heard on ‘Bastardo’ but conversely, there are a few melodic-drenched guitar parts, most noticeably on ‘The Butcher’s Guilt’. ’Blut’ contains a rather catchy riff that bears eyebrow-raising similarities between Nile’s ‘Sacrifice Unto Sebek’ (fortunately, this is a rather brief track). The weakest point on this album is the vocals. When the vocalist is not employing the typical hardcore rasps, he is attempting a waylaid shout or a weak attempt to singing gruffly. A traditional death metal growl would have sufficed. Unfortunately, some of the riffs and drumming are less than compelling and will leave the mind wondering into other unrelated matters. Additionally, ‘Through Dark Gates’ opens and closes with a commercial rock sounding passage, ill-constructed and has no musical relevance to the rest of the song. The Healing is worth a spin if the listener is a great fan of metalcore. Otherwise, the average metalhead will probably not reap as much from it. Originally written for http://www.soundshock.net |