Review Summary: Machinemade God meets Born From Pain in another win for metal of 2010.
As the rest of this year flies by not too many albums will be remembered among the heap of extraordinary metal albums we have had grace our ears already. The new album from the somewhat super group Arma Gathas should be no exception. The members making up this band come from Machinemade God, Born From Pain, Cataract and Armicide so they shouldn’t be considered new to the music scene. While this album might not be praised as one of the greatest metal albums of the century, it sure it a lot of fun. Vocalist Che Snelting does a great job transitioning from his normal hardcore vocal method over to a seminal, metalcore sound. Founder Simon Fullermann also recruited lead guitarist Marc Niedersberg (Machinemade God) to cut and create some riffs that seemingly challenge some of Periphery’s 2010 riffs and lines for the year’s best. Bassist Alex Hartel was asked to join later on in January to help add some heaviness to the album, which is very prominent. Over 3 dozen songs were written in the process of making this album, with just 13 making the cut. The songs were demoed all over the world, more importantly for Tim Lambesis of As I Lay Dying.
The first song on the album “Rise and Fall” is the catchiest on the album. It has great guitar and bass work, making it one of the heaviest on the album as well. The vocals are done perfectly, with the bridge and chorus powerful enough that you will not be able to resist head banging or foot tapping at the very least. Everything about Dead To This World screams speed. From start to finish this album is 36 minutes of pure, pounding speed. There are a couple filler songs in the middle but that doesn’t hurt the quality of the album. Smack dab in the middle you’ll find the groups best effort to thwart any diet-metal sound they were going towards with “Depopulation.” With the vocals of the devil himself, Che does his best to give you every ounce of emotion through his screams and growls. Certain periods of the album are similar quite does take a toll on the overall quality of the album, but that shouldn’t be grounds for dismissal.
The stand up job of the drum work is courtesy of 20 year old drummer Max van Winkelhof (ex-Disloyal). From the work displayed on this album, Max has a potential to be an incredible drummer in the future. His fills and cymbal work on Dead To This World is top notch, and he always has the ability to keep his drumming on par with every bass line and pounding hook. “God’s Wrath” is also one of the better songs on the album. It brings the most mainstream metal feel possible to the album with the actual lighter vocals, in the sense of the word. While screaming “It’s the wrath of God” quite often, the song is rather upbeat and not as dark and gloomy as most of the songs on the album. No matter which way you spin it, Arma Gathas have done nothing less than creating another great album to be added on the pile of great releases we’ve witnessed this year so far. Find the album, listen to it and make sure you see this band if it comes through your area on tour because there is no way you can go wrong giving these guys a decent shot.
