Well what we have here? New blood... Arise are hailing from Sweden and their name came from Sepultura's 'Arise' as they admit. They started performing cover songs by Sepultura, Pantera etc., until they found their own calling. And a very good one I must admit...
'The Godly Work Of Art' is their first album, following the 'Abducted Intelligence' demo they released in 2000. They descibe their music as something like: At the gates vs. Hypocrisy. In my opinion though they seem to have mended all the great components of various of the Scandinavian death metal bands.
There is no comparison though.... Be sure about that!!! Their debut album can not be compared with anything heard since now.
The opening song 'A Godly Work Of Art' reminds of Sepultura and tends to thrash. This is a great opener and an appetizer for the following songs.
'Generations For Sale' while being more technical and approaching the swedish style of death metal is still raw power (listen to the drums and you will know what I am talking about).
The guitars are technicaly flawless and powerful and they mend absolutelly with the drums. The bass is awesome through all of their songs, giving depth and rythm to their sound. All the above are tightly packed by Erik's vocals. A killer combination ain't it?
The melodic atmosphere is apparent in all the songs and is interleaved with enormous explosions of drum frenzy as you can notice in 'Abducted Intelligence' and in 'Delusion of Life' (my personal favorite).
The production is very clear, which is very important for a band's debut album. This fact lets us enjoy all the aspects of their music and be sure in the meantime that they are not misjudged like so many newcomers to the scene.
Ok so here is the part that I scream..... 'If you liked Children Of Bodom, In Flames and Dark Tranquility and think that somebody can stand side by side with them in the Hall Of Fame, grab it fast!!!'
They seem to have all the elements of a great Death Metal Band. My rating is based on the belief that we will hear from them soon again and that we will not be able to compare them with any band in the future. On the other hand if I give them a nine now what about their next album? 🙂 (pretty lame I know, but it is a hard reviewing....)