Arise: The Reckoning

On their fourth full-length album The Reckoning, Swedish thrash-bashers Arise deliver exactly what you've come to expect from them… uncompromising death metal that takes no prisoners, even if it all becomes slightly derivative by the album's midpoint. This is music meant to bludgeon your senses unmercifully, plain and simple. Nowhere in this album's forty minute running time will you find breathing room or spots for introspective listening pleasure. The guitar riffs rumble with dark menace, moving along at frantic speed while the vocals are indistinguishable at best and headache-inducing at worst, marked by deep bellowing growls and evil, guttural moans. The drummer not so much plays as he does stomp and pound with reckless abandon, providing a powerful albeit noisy template for the rest of the band to work off of. You have to hand it to this band; they don't dawdle around or draw anything out to unnecessary lengths, instead realizing that their songs work best as quick, boorish shots of adrenaline, keeping a majority of them around the four minute mark or less, with opening number "Adrenaline Rush" concluding at a meager one minute, fifty-three seconds. There are rare occasions, such as the relentlessly driving "Dead Silence" or semi-spooky instrumental "Pitch Black", where the band implores some changing speeds and/or dynamic shifts, giving those tunes an added touch of panache that isn't present in much of the material. Mostly though, this is full-on deathcore, with Arise exemplifying all of the genre's vicious trademarks: musical dissonance, heavy chromatic riffing, sheer speed and nightmarish artwork. This album is not recommended for the faint of heart and serves as a statement to the masses that the alchemy of thrash and death metal is alive and well. The only question is, are you brave enough to endure it?

Track Listing

1. Adrenaline Rush
2. No Memory Of Light
3. Blindead
4. They Are Coming For You
5. Pitch Black
6. The Reckoning
7. Reclaiming The Soul
8. The Fury
9. Dead Silence
10. End Of Days

Added: September 7th 2009
Reviewer: Keith Schwier
Score:
Related Link: Band Website
Hits: 2009
Language: english

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