Lepers Caress

To start this off, I can't say I'm too fond of their last 2 albums, We Are the Nightmare and Starve for the Devil, I wasn't even too thrilled with united in Regret either... But A Celebration of Guilt and their following EP A Diamond for Disease are two of my all time favorite melodic death metal releases. Lepers Caress isn't a full-on return to glory for Arsis, but it's certainly a step on the right path.

The intro tune left me a bit wary, as it doesn't give way to anything too promising. What doubts I had after the first minute and a half were quickly extinguished the moment six coffins wide broke into some seriously heavy riffage with the signature wailing guitar melodies and fast-as-hell paced death/thrash-esque chugging. As started previously though, the chorus is a bit too Starve for the devil sounding in the sense that it just feels a bit half-assed, the melodic refrain is just kind of filler for the other 75% of the song which is pure old school Celebration-era Arsis. What caught my eye to this release initially was the fact they had re-re-released one of my favorite tracks off A Celebration of Guilt, Veil of Mourning Black. This was the song that originally prompted me to give this a listen, and needless to say it's every bit as good as the original. Not much input to it other than if you enjoyed it as a bonus track on Celebration, you'll like it on Lepers Caress. A Tearful Haunt Condemned is probably the one song on this EP I really can't get into, the older style of Arsis playing is still present, but the melodies just don't seem to have the same hooks that Six Coffins and the final track, Denied have. Which brings me to the final track on this release, Denied. Which sports some of the more inventive musicianship which got me into this band in the first place, the melodies and rhythms in this track just have that melancholic feel that I still get every time Maddening Disdain or Face of my Innocence comes on when I put my iPod on shuffle.

Lepers Caress is an interesting listen from start to finish, no matter how much you may have loathed or loved Starve for the devil this EP still has some potential replay capability for Arsis fans of any album. One can only hope they may ditch the glitzy, glam rock-laden sound of Starve and return to their former excellence that was A Diamond for Disease or A Celebration of guilt.

If you're like me, you fell in love with Arsis because of their seamless blend of melody, aggression, and tasteful technicality. I have yet to listen to Starve For The Devil, but We Are The Nightmare left me feeling a bit cold. Of course, there were the awesome riffs typical of an Arsis release, but there were some questionable segments where it sounded like they were trying to prove how "technical" they were, and these were not well-complemented by the thin, scratchy, sandpaper-esque guitar tone and nonexistent bass.

The production is at its strongest since their debut LP. You can clearly hear the guitar harmonies and counterpoint melodies weave in and out of each other and the drums are quite prominent. The bass is almost completely inaudible (who would've thought?), but I doubt it's doing anything far off from the guitar (we need more bassists like Forest).

The intro track starts of with some high-reverb clean guitar, progressing until the distortion kicks in with some slow-to-mid-paced melodic riffs. The guitars fill the typical lead and rhythm roles and progress into the EP's first real track, "Six Coffins Wide". The song kicks off with a fast-paced, aggressive, and technical thrash riff. My only complaint with this track is its overly anthemic chorus reminiscent of a commercial rock release. The rest of the song is great, however, with a soulful guitar solo towards the end of the track.

The second track, "Veil Of Mourning Black" is re-release of a song originally found on their 2002 demo. If you've already heard this song, you'd know that is starts off with thrashy, melodic riff with the rhythm guitar serving a simple counterpoint. The rest of the song is filled with excellent musicianship and infectious-as-hell riffs.

"A Tearful Haunt, Condemned" may be my favorite song from this release, the whole track layers guitar harmonies on top of each other in a seemingly neoclassical fashion. However, halfway through the song I hear a return of the anthemic rock-oriented riffs I disdained on the first track, but they are not overbearing and serve a nice rhythm guitar piece to support the solo.

I'm going to skip "Carving My Cross" and skip straight to the closing track, and man, what a closing track. By now, you can probably tell this is the Arsis you've always known, but the track "Denied" really seals the deal. It starts off by hitting you in the face with a great fucking riff. Most of the song is centered around that riff, with a virtuosic solo towards the end. The ironic part about this track is that it just falls short of two-and-a-half minutes, making the shortest on the album. I really wish it was at least minute longer, as it showed great promise.

So if you're a fan of the true Arsis, or just a fan of extreme metal in general, there isn't much of an excuse not to get this album since it's for free to download on Scion A/V. It's the typical blend of tech death, melodeath, and death/thrash you've come to expect from the band. Great riffs, solos, and layered guitar harmonies are scattered throughout. As good as this is, I feel that it is a mere prelude of what's to come on their upcoming full-length, Unwelcome.