The 2016 Arsies: January 13, 2016

January 13, 2016

Today, we start with 36 Crazyfists. Time And Trauma is, by all accounts, the band's (or at least Brock Lindow's) most emotive album to date, and it brings with it an edgier sneer than past efforts. The swagger and darkness are sure to please, even if the whole album feels like a tour of other bands' styles (check out the Deftonesesque Sorrow Sings or the Nothingfaceish Also Am I for some examples). The back third does drag a bit, but it's more an issue of pacing than songwriting. 36CF drop their mic on a somber note, but a solid album overall.
Fit For An Autopsy take a calculated risk with their response, foregoing emtional veracity and instead doubling down on a metal so dark it'd be funny if it wasn't so earnest in its approach. Like 36CF, this is no real reinvention here, but rather a selective sampling of others. At least with F2A2, the homages are more approximate, the resulting melange more cohesive. In fact, the execution on this album is seriously on point. The pacing adds to the overall doominess of the album, with just the right number of breakdowns counteracting the general acceleration of the middle third.
Congratulations to F2A2. They'll be back in three weeks, when they challenge The Armed.
The Round Of 32 is now officially half over! Tomorrow, we start the second half, with Intronaut and Iron Maiden.