Arise and Run – The Final Dawn

I think I can count the number of good releases Victory Records has had in the last couple years on my hand (not hands). This label simply will not stop trying to milk the “metalcore” thing for all that its worth (if this were a real cow being milked, its teats would be chafed and bleeding by now).

Arise and Ruin has everything your standard metalcore outfit needs to get signed to Victory; “sweet” breakdowns, guitars tuned down to drop c or d (look it up), maximum double-kick, mixed out bass rhythms, a guitar solo (to prove that they’ve got talent), and only the heaviest vocals on this side of the Sierra’s (that would be the mountain range). This band uses almost every cliché trick that metalcore collectively has come up with at this point in time. Now, because I’ve never done it before, I’m going to do a song by song analysis:

1. Bound By Blood– So heavy that it imploded my inner-ear passage and I had to get surgery, brutal! (I was tempted to intentionally misspell “brutal” but I couldn’t do it).
2. The Final Dawn– Awesome, there’s enough breakdown to give a scenester with even the crookedest of crooked hats a chubby.
3. End of The Road– Did I mention that they’ve got a lot of breakdown? Well not only does this song have breakdown, but it’s got a melodic guitar part, sweet!

But seriously, I don’t have the patience for this, a song by song analysis means I’ll likely have to listen to everything more than once. This leads me to my next point; this cd is almost impossible to listen through. I have a general rule that I apply to most bands of this sort, it’s a good rule to use if you want to avoid being pummeled into submission by music that entirely lacks any inspiration, that is: don’t listen to it. I was under the impression that the metalcore in question is a dying breed. The Edmonton music scene has gone from hosting dozens of metalcore shows every few months to hardly a baker’s dozen over the entire year (or maybe I’m just out of touch). Bands of this sort going the way of new-wave of the 80’s or the grunge music of the 90’s is likely a good thing. Deathly images and re-recording the same song ten times with different sets of lyrics is getting old. Victory records needs to stop signing such crappy bands, I think I speak on the behalf of a lot of people when I say I’m tired of this shit flooding the music market (I’m just glad there’s no Hot Topic in Edmonton to push this crap on me).

As time goes on, I realize that empathizing with people is crucial to be able to function in society. A band doesn’t get signed to a label without working hard and constantly touring to build a fan base; for this I can only praise Arise and Ruin for doing something that I only can dream of attempting. I’d really love to be able to say “check this band out, you may like them” but there are hundreds of other bands doing the exact same thing. I don’t know what it is that made them get some notice and rise above the plethora of other bands of the exact same style and talent, but it happened. Therefore, if you must listen to this music, I would rather encourage the supporting a local band attempting to get to the same point as Arise and Ruin (perhaps just not trying to sign onto Victory, Trustkill, or Ferret Records). Sure, locals may not have super-sleek polish, but they’re going to struggle a lot more than a band that is established. So, support your local scene, don’t buy this.