The 2018 Arsies: January 24, 2018

January 24, 2018

Emotion	●●●	●●○
Memorability	●●○	●●○
Replayability	●●●	●●○
Innovation	●●○	●●●
Pace	●●●	●●○
Shredding	●●○	●●○
Vocals	●●○	●●●
Production	●●●	●●●
	✓

Days like today are especially difficult for the judging around here. Here we have two distinctly different bands, putting forth some of the best material in their respective careers. And yet, even though I'm privately rooting for both APMD and He Is Legend, I am dutybound to cast one aside and send up the other for deeper consideration.
He Is Legend get the honor of going first, and set up a good pace by getting to business of facemelting early, then transitioning to their softer side. It's an effective strategy in general, and first; alas, that starts to lose potency as Few proceeds. Worse: it does leave the band vulnerable to APMD, who use the exact same strategy, only by inflicting way more damage across the board. (Referring to APMD's softer side is a laughably relative thing, but if you can hear it anywhere, it's in the middle third of Hostage Animal.) Also, their brand of facemelting is a more credible threat, plain and simple. He Is Legend are indeed great and worthy, but APMD takes the metal to a whole new level.
Next up, we listen to two bands that often get dismissed unfairly: Cannabis Corpse and August Burns Red. Let's see how hard it is to justify a fair dismissal of one of them.