 
Arthemis are a band that I have seen adverts for
popping up absolutely everywhere and when there
are flashy adverts it is always natural to make
assumptions on them; firstly I thought they were
a new act as I thought this was only their second
album, second of all I thought they were all relatively
young as their photo’s were very flattering,
thirdly I thought they would be a hybrid musically
between modern metal and 80’s thrash. Needless
to say I was a little bit wrong as in actual fact
these guys have been rocking it since the 90’s
and this may I add is their seventh studio album
in these Italian thrashers lengthy career.
From that paragraph readers will obviously take
away that I haven’t listened to the band
before so this album will act as a clean slate
for me and I can review the bands style on a whole
as if it were their first album. I wasn’t
entirely wrong with what I thought about their
hybrid style as album opener “Empire”
shows that modern metal tones and arrangements
are all in place but the thick backbone of the
sound is thrash sprinkled with power metal-esque
guitar work and vocal lines all perfectly entwined
as to not have each influence stand on its own
and become a mess, that in itself is impressive
as you’d expect so many different elements
to be muddled not as crisp as it actually sounds.
The inclusion of power metal vocals and the distinctive
tone make songs like “We Fight” ridiculously
catchy in vocals and melody, those chorus lines
ring out memorable and powerful making them instant
hits.
Releasing this following on from their Pop Up
Your Ass EP where they took pop artists like Britney
Spears, Lady Gaga, Rhianna and Michael Jackson
giving them the thrash metal tune up, then leading
onto this release upped the ante; “Blood
of Generations”, “Alone”, “Reign
of Terror” and “Burning Star”
push the limits of melodic thrash metal. I think
that would be the best classification for this
act, melodic thrash metal simply because from
where I’m sat that is exactly what it is,
I thoroughly enjoyed this album and would be intrigued
to attend a show sometime, if you like bands like;
Evile, Firewind, Dream Evil, Megadeth or Iced
Earth then I would highly recommend Arthemis for
you.
4/5
Review by James Webb
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