The 2018 Arsies: January 30, 2018

January 30, 2018

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

Today's match is a fun one. Dyscarnate set the bar high with an album that is consistently and blatantly out for blood. But all of its high-volume viciousness and immediacy comes at the costs of memorability and exhaustion. These weaknesses are exploited to full effect by the quirky yet raw music of War Moans. It may not be as punishing as With All Their Might, but this album is a definite crowdpleaser. Put another way: Dyscarnate sounds like an elevated version of modern death metal, but Mutoid Man sounds like the further evolution of a sound that's uniquely their own. I really thought that Dyscarnate would go further than they did, but Mutoid Man slip past them for the win. The only question is, do they have what it takes to get past Fleshkiller? We'll find out together next week.
Tomorrow, we find a way to compare and contrast the very different sounds of The Haunted and Northlane.