Review Summary: Apparently Marriage Sucks.
Ah Arsis, a band that has earned a reputation on this site for being sort of lackluster and inconsistent. Many people on this site either have a strong dislike for this band in general, like them for a few songs, or go the Kit Brown (Thor) approach; you know the HOLY CRAP ARSIS OMG fan-boyishness. As for me, I am kind of near the Kit Brown spectrum. The band as a whole is incredibly talented, and they write some damn catchy tunes. In 2005 they released their opus A Diamond For Disease . Sadly, it is way too short, coming in at a measly three songs. For the twenty minutes that this EP lasts though, my reaction is that of our good dear friend Kit.
A Diamond For Disease starts with the song of the same name. There can’t be enough accolades to give this song that has already been said. It’s thirteen minutes long, but should really go on forever. James Malone riffs, shreds, begin to rock, etc like he has never done before or since. This song contains the best guitar work I have ever heard. The drums are fast and heavy, never slowing down in the process. So everything is basically perfect on this song, especially the chorus. James’ singing “Oh! Let’s Make a Deal, A Diamond For Disease” is fantastic. In fact, all of the lyrics are really great too. This is quite surprising given Arsis’ track record with lyrics containing death, forcing to rock, and especially tightropes. Diseases are a nice little addition to the band’s expansive vocabulary.
So after thirteen minutes of getting my face melted in awesomeness, the EP would seem like it couldn’t get any better. Well it doesn’t, but it doesn’t get any worse either. “Roses on White Lace” is formidable cover of Alice Cooper and it adds to the title track really well in terms of the theme Arsis wanted on here. They take the song and transition it well into a metal song, especially when it comes to the little solo at 1:20 and the main one in the middle of the song. The final song “The Promise of Never” goes back to the heavy/melodic combo that was in the title track. Lyrically it fits more with “A Diamond For Disease” and it actually more gruesome in that department than its counterpart.
Simply put, A Diamond For Disease is one of the greatest death metal releases period. The song “A Diamond For Disease” is easily my favorite death metal song ever, and the other two tracks are extremely solid in their own rights. If Arsis would have maybe thought about a whole concept album based on this theme, it could have been a classic album instead of just a classic EP. Oh well. I guess we will just have to listen to more songs about tightropes.
