Starting from something that began as a rather normal Power Metal addition, it became something fiercer, darker and intensified over the years. The Italian ARTHEMIS, led by the shred guitarist Andrea Martongelli (also heard and seen on POWER QUEST), are not what you would call "ultimately diverse" in their prospects, yet, their shifting from the a form of banal Euro Power into a sort of mixture of modern Heavy and Thrash, might add something positive to their long repertoire.
Unlike their previous releases of the late 90's and the beginning of the new millennium as "Church Of The Holy Ghost", "Golden Dawn" and even their two years running, "Black Society", a change had been made in their approach. Besides becoming more modern on both musical and production terms, ARTHEMIS's new "Heroes" presented a new spirit and a new voice for their callings. Modernity became the band's best of friends.
When I heard "Heroes" for the first time I was rather pleased to see that a positive change was made here. Also it made me think how different this album sounds in comparison to "Black Society". What I found mostly recommendable with ARTHEMIS's efforts is the fact that even though they became more aggressive than before, it has not bothered their will to stay melodic following high-complex solos by the you-know-who shred man. Although I am not a huge fan of the modern sound, ARTHEMIS made me like it a little more.
After all these years, ARTHEMIS stayed bound to the production of catchy oriented tracks. Although they didn't succeed on all the presented list of tracks, they did a rather good job. In the future they should leave out the "too modern" aspects and more concentrate on their older musical style while infusing it with their new face. With the addition of the new voice, Fabio D, and the everlasting ability of Martongelli, various mighty tracks as "Scars On Scars" (Also check out the video), "7days", "Heroes", "Home" and "Resurrection", kept on the flame of the band going. Even the band's instrumentals showed that beyond their wish to stay time updated, didn't interfere with writing something worth hearing. As I wrote earlier, this is not ultimately diverse, yet there is still something to look for here, no banality with ARTHEMIS any more.
ARTHEMIS left the station of Euro Power Metal and went on to search for something new, fresh and assorted (at best). Calling this band Heavy / Thrash is not that accurate. "Heroes" is an assorted album of different Modern Metal styles, while not breaching into the stinky areas of Nu-Metal or the Core parade. The most important is that this band has talent, good material and reliable source to keep on getting good music in the road ahead. If want music with balls of steel, and you do not have an recollections of their previous albums, come check this band out. A new breed is rising. This is a revolution... (So says the song).
