| CD REVIEW Artas |
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Band : Artas Originally going by the band name Staub & Schatten, this Vienna (Austria) based quintet went through a serious change of musical direction when, in 2005, guitarist Sid and lead singer Obi (short for Obimahan) joined the threesome of second singer/ guitarist Hannes, bassist David, and drummer Chris. After the first writing sessions David left for personal reasons, and with the joining of the truly prolific Radek songwriting was taken that level higher. Suddenly everything was in-sink, as all band members were of the same musical mind. In 2007 the guys participated to the first Metalchamp competition (as the name suggests, it is an Austrian competition for Metal bands only, and it was organized by managment/ booking agency Rock The Nation, Planet Music & Media, and Vereinigte Österreichische Musikförderer. Between June and July 2007, some 200 bands from all over Europe competed with each other in several preliminary selections. The final showdown at the Metalcomp Open Air 2007 event saw Staub & Schatten coming out of the smoky battlefield. Their price was not only a unique trophy made by artist Gabriel Siegl, but more importantly a record deal with Austrian label Napalm Records). The band members changed their name to Artas, started a 3-month recording session in their own studio, and sent the recordings of 13 songs off to Jakob Hansen (producer known for having worked with the likes of Heaven Shall Burn and many others) to give the whole a decent mixing. The end result is simply thunderous. From the material offered, the fact that the guys come with a background of several classic extreme subgenres becomes quite evident, because even if the term "Modern Metal" (with which a "modern variety" of MetalCore is meant) is being used to describe the band's music, specific different undertones dó come through depending on the song you'll be listening to. Upon a bed of exhilerating double bass drum, Progressive heavy Metal influences make for high-tension build-ups within each of the songs, and with the changing undercurrents what you get is a very varied album. Things which certainly work to the advantage of that variation, is the use of changing vocal colouring. The lead singer uses both a Death Metal and cleaner voice, the backing singer does the same (the two usually contrasting somewhat for hightened listening pleasure), and adds an occasionally more Blackened passage. On top of all of that, the guys also vary in their use of language. The majority of the lyrics are done in English, a few songs (3 in total) are done strictly in German, but there's a couple (four, actually) where they mix those up, and for "Bastardo" they even went Spanish on us! The nicest surprise on the album definitely comes with the band's own version of Coolio's world hit song "Gangsta's Paradise". Utterly adrenalized and played in the style of the other songs, I think it would be hard to convince anyone who doesn't know the original Pop version of the fact that this wasn't a Death Metal track to begin with! Convince yourself of the complete overhaul of that song by surfing to myspace.com/artasmetal, where the band also posted "Bastardo" and two other songs (one strictly in English, the other strictly in German). If the 4 songs posted here are not enough to convince you of this band's qualities, you truly have no business listening to this kind of music at all! Personally I don't quite agree with the "Modern Metal" tag given the material...because what is meant is a variety of MetalCore...as I feel the band's music is essentially a very nicely played and built form of Death Metal with elements Progressive Heavy Metal and Black Metal. Brought with a very nice modern production, granted, but devoid of any specific Hardcore elements. The guys don't really need that anyway, as their material is catchy enough without needing that extra injection! At the end of the day, and following a couple of listening sessions, you tend to still wanna play the album over again...in my book a clear indicator of greatness, and it is therefore not without good reason that I've added the album to my "Best Albums Of 2008"-list! 98/100 Tony. |