With A Diamond For Disease Arsis managed to do the unthinkable. The title track off said EP was essentially a fifteen minute guitar solo, and in short, the best thing they've ever done. So honestly, I don't know what to tell you about United in Regret other than it's more or less completely average in every way. This is clearly evidence that the Virginia two-piece over-exerted themselves on their previous EP, but I digress.
United in Regret isn't necessarily a bad album, it's just not very good. To be totally frank, I was bored by the third track. Sure, the album isn't without it's highlights; it's got some shred, as the kids say, but it's mostly pretty forgettable. Plus the way these guys produce their music is just infuriating, its way too layered. It was forgivable on their other releases but something about this album just totally irks me. Buy their EP, its leagues ahead of this. It's ironic that a band I can only take in small doses impressed me the most with a fifteen minute EP. Well, ironic or sad. And for the record, lead guitar tomfoolery does not make this a "technical" release. The majority of the leads on this album do nothing but distract the listener from the otherwise boring (and repetitive) songs.
5 Bumps | Bump |
