Battle Royale: Arsis – Starve For the Devil vs. We Are the Nightmare
Arsis (via MySpace)
Aside from hearing a couple songs off A Celebration of Guilt way back when and skimming through a few more in later years, I’ve never had a close and meaningful relationship with Arsis. I missed the memo that gave pretty much everyone and their grandmother an excuse to jack off to We Are the Nightmare two years ago – but I’m really not upset about that. At all. Why? Because Starve For the Devil is just as good, if not better. Yes, in my hardly humble opinion, the very album which will one day be credited with ushering in the inevitable (and surely lamentable) crossover of 80’s hair metal and 00’s extreme subgenres is more-or-less on par with or superior to We Are the Nightmare. I am perfectly comfortable saying that – and let me explain why, track-by-track.
An Odd Amount of Questions with Ron Jarzombek
Ron Jarzombek (via MySpace)
Let me just begin by saying – I play guitar, and if there’s one guy I wish I was good enough to emulate, it’s Ron Jarzombek. This interview was a labor of love for me, as I’ve been big into Spastic Ink for a while and certainly loved Blotted Science (which happens to be the main focus of my questions) in addition to Watchtower and Ron’s strictly solo releases. The fact that I requested an interview through MySpace (of all media), received a willful reply, sent my questions back, and now I have all the answers is a testament to not only how hard this dude works but also how down-to-earth he really is. He’s the kind of guy you want to have a drink with whether there are guitars around him or not.
Because this interview was so special to me, I decided to do more than 10 questions; it took me longer, but it was absolutely necessary. I hope you enjoy reading it.
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #23
23. Protest the Hero – Fortress (2008)
Soooo fast. I feel dizzy. (pukes)
Now that... is a cool headdress
I was at first skeptical about Fortress. I kept hearing about how great it was and the band themselves had said that even the people had said that people who didn’t like Kezia might like this album. So I gave it a shot. Am I ever glad that I did. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #28
28. Meshuggah – Catch 33 (2005)
Music Made for Robots by Humans
And it still needs to be Rock Band DLC
Leave it to Meshuggash to create an album which has a length that puts most male porn stars to shame. This band has always been on the avant-garde edge but Catch 33 perhaps took Meshuggah’s weirdness a bit too far. Thankfully, I like weird. Read more »
10 Questions with Carnal Rapture
Carnal Rapture (via MySpace)
Well, I’ve been doing these interviews for a little while now; I’ve had my share of good and bad ones. This one I just finished with Emilio from Carnal Rapture? There’s a good chance it may be the best interview I’ve ever had the pleasure of working on. You want authoritative? This guy gives it to you. You want outspoken and opinionated? He gives you that too. Regardless of whether you like Carnal Rapture, you don’t like Carnal Rapture, or you don’t even know who the hell this band is, this is one of the few Spine Language posts that is actually worth reading. Seriously.
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #65
65. Meshuggah – ObZen (2008)
Betcha Can’t Play This!
Well I just killed a busload of kindergarteners. Time to sit back and grab some R&R
It took Meshuggah months just to learn how to play what they wrote for ObZen. Now keep in mind that Meshuggah are accomplished musicians who have made a highly successful career out of playing music that’s impossible for mere mortals to play. And even when they finally learned how to play the entirety of ObZen well enough to finally go into the studio, they couldn’t play it in any time signature other than 4/4. That should give you a good idea of how insane this album is. Read more »
The 100 Best Metal Albums of the Decade: #72
72. Origin – Antithesis (2008)
Drill Metal
The makers of the distortion pedal for this album reveal themselves on the album cover.
10 Questions with Seven
Seven (via MySpace)
Meshuggah is an often copied, never duplicated kind of band. They influence a shitload of new metal musicians, but the fact is that so many of them can’t find their own voice with that sound. One band from Illinois is doing a good job of breaking away from the pack: Seven. We got a chance to catch up with Brad Tuttle and rest of Seven recently for an interview. Check it out!
-
AUTHORS
Chris Catharsis
dasher10