Arsis: Lepers Caress

This is yet another short and intriguing EP from Scion A/V Records.  Arsis has been a band that I have been following fairly closely since I discovered them.  Arsis started out as a very technical melodic death metal band.  Over the years, their technicality has decreased somewhat as they have focused more and more on crafting memorable songs.

Arsis opens things up with an intro track here, which I would argue is probably not necessary on an EP.  But from there, Arsis gets right back at what they do best, which is to rampage through some razor-sharp riffs with insane drumming patterns, and the manic vocals of James Malone.  The EP definitely picks up from there and refuses to waver after that point.  Arsis has continued with their recent trend of making their songs as memorable as possible.  Each track after the introduction has its own infectious moments.

"Veil of Mourning Black" is a re-recording of an early Arsis track.  The remaining tracks are all new.  The closing track "Denied" stands out as the highlight on the EP, ending things on a very high note.

There is not much here to really make an impact on non-fans of the band.  If you like Arsis, you will likely like this one.  If not, this probably will not change your mind.

Witch Mountain: Witch Mountain

I am beginning to really like Scion A/V.  They put out a bunch of free EPs from some damn good bands.  Over the last year and a half or so there have been terrific EPs from Immolation, Revocation, and Corrosion of Conformity.  This time I decided to check out Witch Mountain, a band I had only a passing familiarity with.

Witch Mountain is a traditional doom metal band from the U.S. featuring a female lead singer.  There is a large discussion over on the Metal Archives forum which is dissecting the merits of having a woman in a metal band.  A large consensus seems to be that many bands use it as a gimmick.  I really do not think that is the case with Witch Mountain as Uta Plotkin possesses an extremely impressive voice.  It is powerful and really gives the band a unique quality that makes them stand out from many of the other retro doom metal bands out there.  Seriously she is one of the most talented vocalists I have heard in a long time.

The music on the EP is somewhat lumbering traditional doom.  It is slow-paced but it allows Plotkin a chance to really shine.  The music is very impressive though and it does not get bogged down in its slow pace.  It remains interesting enough to keep the listener's attention even when Plotkin is not wailing away.

Plotkin is definitely the star here though.  Without her, the band probably would not merit much mention.  I am not suggesting that Witch Mountain uses the fact that they have a female lead singer to achieve any measure of notoriety.  It is not the fact that Plotkin is a woman that makes the band stand out.  It really is her voice.  She is that good.

Corrosion of Conformity: Megalodon

Corrosion of Conformity did not waste much time following up their self-titled reunion album.  The band just this year released an album as a reformed trio made up of the three original members.  Pepper Keenan, quite possibly the driving force of the band over the previous fifteen years of the band's existence, is gone.  So the band's sound reverted to more of a sludgy hardcore, the sound that the band first rose to prominence with.

As I have previously mentioned Deliverance is where I got on board with Corrosion of Conformity.  As far as I am concerned, the band has never done better than that album before or since.  But I did enjoy some of their other work, including on their self-titled album released earlier this year.  So I did not really have any qualms about checking this one out.  Especially since it was free.

There are a couple of moments on this album where the band really does sound like Deliverance-era C.O.C.  "Feed On" and "The Megalodon" both really have that Southern metal swing to them.  The only thing missing on those tracks are the vocals of Keenan.  Not to say that the three members of C.O.C. (I honestly do not know enough about them to tell their vocals apart) are not fine vocalists, a couple of them anyway.  I just do not think they quite have the same charm.  Again, perhaps that is due to when I got into the band and I might have felt differently if I had gotten into them earlier.  Most of the songs on this EP would have fit in reasonably well on Deliverance, so I am definitely liking it, at least musically.  My only real complaint is with the vocals which do not grab me as much.

For a free EP, I am definitely not complaining.  This is a pretty good release from C.O.C. and is shockingly even better than the full-length from earlier.