Artas – The Healing

Releasedate: 26-09-2008; Label: Napalm Records
By: Elvira Visser

In 2006 an Austrian band was founded, members came from different bands who played different genres and styles. When cooperating they founded Staub & Schatten. The different backgrounds from the band members delivered to the sound of ARTAS. In 2007 the band signed with Napalm Records and they changed their name to ARTAS.

After a three months recording process they now present their debut album “The Healing”. The band says ARTAS plays modern metal which is raw and angry. When you listen to this album they live up to that expectation. It seems that they could not choose a language to sing in because they sing in German, English and Spanish. The German shouted lyrics seem to turn into even more aggressive tracks than the English ones. One weird track on the album is “Gangsta’s Paradise” from Coolio. Some people would say they should not have touched this song, but they did turn turn it into a great metal track, added growls and drums but the track does have sensitive passages.

Besides hard and aggressive they manage to have a very catchy track “The Healing” which instantly will stick to your mind. It is quite hard to describe their sound, so maybe modern metal will do the trick. They have the power of metalcore and the screams of black metal and know how to make a diverse album. When you think “la la la” is something metal bands do not sing, you are wrong, in “Kontrol” they do. The intro of “A Song of Ice and Fire” calms you down, but not for long. They end this CD in full aggressive speed.

I think that with this album ARTAS delivered a very strong and promising debut.

Links:
Artas MySpace