''Unwelcome'' is the fifth studio album by the
Death Metal
Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, fe ...
band
Arsis
Arsis is an American heavy metal band from Virginia Beach, Virginia, formed in 2000. The band is currently signed to Nuclear Blast.
History Demos and Willowtip era (2000–2006)
Arsis was started by James Malone and Michael "Mike" Van D ...
. It was released on April 30, 2013 through
Nuclear Blast Records
Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label move ...
. This is the first full-length album to feature Shawn Priest on drums and Brandon Ellis on guitar. The second track is taken from their 2012
EP, ''
Lepers Caress
''Lepers Caress'' is the second EP by metal band Arsis. It was released on December 4, 2012 as a digital release through Scion Audio/Visual
Scion Audio/Visual, also known as Scion AV, Scion A/V or SA/V, was an in-house record label and "lifes ...
''. This album was produced by Mark Lewis.
Reception
''Unwelcome'' was generally well received by both critics and fans, being hailed as a return-to-form to their earlier materials compared to their 2010 release ''
Starve for the Devil'' by focusing on aggression and technicality, but still remaining melodic and listenable. Criticism of the album usually focuses on general inaccessibility to those who are not fans of
technical death metal
Technical death metal (also referred to as tech-death) is a musical subgenre of death metal that began and developed in the early- to mid-1990s, with particular focus on challenging, demanding instrumental skill and complex songwriting.
Techni ...
, or the inclusion less-serious sounding parts of the album, for example the inclusion of the 80s hit "
Sunglasses at Night" by
Corey Hart. Andrew Uscategui of Sputnik Music writes: "Also as you'd expect from Arsis, there's a decent amount of cheese on ''Unwelcome'', if you didn't already get that notion from the ridiculous song titles. 'Sunglasses at Night' isn't necessarily their fault as it's a Corey Hart cover (which is odd enough as it is), but the lyrics are so blatantly awful it's almost impossible to ignore."
Despite this, he did give the album 3.5 out of 5 stars, saying that "Arsis deserves some credit for staying true to their technical melodeath roots after all this time. Even after compromising their sound in the past, ''Unwelcome'' shows the band doing what they do best and doesn't completely rule out the idea of another ''A Celebration of Guilt'' or ''A Diamond for Disease'' sometime in the future."
Track listing
Credits
Personnel
*James Malone – vocals, rhythm guitar
*Noah Martin – bass
*Shawn Priest – drums
*Brandon Ellis – lead guitar
Additional Personnel
*Ryan Knight – guitar solo (track 7)
*Nick Cordle – guitar solo (track 9)
Production
*Mark Lewis – engineering, mixing
*Mark Riddick – artwork, layout
References
2013 albums
Arsis albums
Nuclear Blast albums
Albums produced by Mark Lewis (music producer)
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