Arsonists Get All The Girls
The Game Of Life
6.4
Century Media’s roster is diverse, but many metalheads expressed chagrin when the label announced the signings of $ellable acts The Agonist, At All Cost, Blessed by a Broken Heart, In This Moment, Suicide Silence, and the one with the worst name of the entire lot – Arsonists Get All the Girls. If that’s the case, it looks like I picked the wrong day to quit burning stuff down illegally. At any rate, this keyboard-laced deathcore is not without merit, but is too ordinary to lavishly praise even if it will appeal to a young, niche audience.
The most unique aspect of The Game of Life is the keyboard, which sounds tonally similar to 8-bit videogame music, though it isn’t as flamboyant nor unrelenting as that of, say, HORSE the band – certainly not enough to warrant the “Nintendo metal” tag. Still, instead of injecting much-needed innovation into the formula like Between the Buried and Me, Into the Moat, Losa, Zao, and others have done during their respective careers, Arsonists Get All the Girls play deathcore that rarely ventures outside the box except on select occasions. Sure, there are a variety of vocal approaches – ranging from screams to growls and in between – but the synthesizer is without a doubt the sextet’s most memorable attribute.
Despite the weaknesses, “Save the Castle, Screw the Princess” is a decent tune, and has all the properties that one could expect from purveyors of the style. At over five minutes, it’s a tad long, but follower “Mantipede” thankfully clocks in at only 1:17. Like a few other songs, hardcore gang shouts can be heard in “Mantipede,” and as always, temporarily balloon the hardcore vibes circulating throughout the record. “Cuffed to Your Ankles,” “Shoeshine for Neptune,” and “Tourtasia” are each solid, as are the rest that round out the 12-song, 39-minute collection that is The Game of Life. If you haven’t noticed already, Arsonists Get All the Girls also pen song titles that are about as likeable as a toothache – “Claiming Middle Age a Decade Early,” “So You Think You Know About the Game of Life (Party in the Rear),” etc.
If there’s a saving grace for The Game of Life, however, it’s the musicianship. Time and time again, the band switch from tempo to tempo and transition from passage to passage with ease, while the endearing keyboard fittingly scatters its blips and bleeps amongst the soundscape. For meaner deathcore, though, stick with labelmates Despised Icon and Nuclear Blast’s All Shall Perish. Otherwise, you’ll have to settle for slightly above average material with an overdose of questionable personality.
