Arise And Ruin
The Final Dawn
5.6
No, I am not going to ape the "chug chug chug" or rant about how boring this genre is becoming (though it most certainly is dull), but I will say that, bottom line, Arise and Ruin must have low expectations and even lower aspirations to release something like The Final Dawn in an age when kids are in full-on download/trash/repeat mode.
Okay, I will rant a little. It's unavoidable. Is this how metalheads felt in the late '80s when piss-poor, freshly formed thrash bands were coming out of the woodwork? And did they all have press releases quoting them using ridiculous and unnecessarily inventive descriptors like "power stoked?" Don't get the wrong impression. I always walk into an album wanting to like it. To do otherwise would be illogical. But things are getting out of hand when labels sign 10+ new acts a year (and that HAS to be a conservative average estimate), and we're starting to see the toll it's having on the industry. The Final Dawn is a prime example.
There's nothing to hate here. Similarly, there's nothing to love either. Thus we have what every critic fears, the extremely mediocre album. It sits in our MR queue much like its finished counterparts must wait VERY patiently for customers to save them from the lonely record store shelf. As a debut, this isn't entirely convincing me. I guess what I am looking for is some semblance of an identity, or at least some proof that the band indeed attempted to create one. No such luck. Standard metalcore with some serious bro-breakdowns to give the pit a little exercise before Arise and Ruin leave the stage and Unearth or Chimaira take over. The riffs are predictable and I've heard more genuine passion from Where the Boys Aren't 14 than these ten limp-wristed tracks. If the music industry were a prison, these guys would be the newly transgendered inmates who haven't quite mastered the female voice and occasionally forget to take the hormones. They haven't spent enough time getting comfortable in their own skin, and until they do they're going to be the poor saps getting fucked over every shower break until they're made somebody else's bitch and they get the comfort in knowing whose penis is going where at what time (word to Let's Go to Prison). With no identity of their own they're easily labeled, assigned and screwed until the white flag is tossed.
The question I keep asking myself is, "Why?" If you're the label, why sign and put money behind a derivative, dull band? If you're the band, why not spend some time establishing a name and identity before you hit the studio? Arise and Ruin have talent. Of course, it's largely wasted talent, but it's talent nonetheless, and I can only hope they utilize it on the follow-up, assuming there is one. If you absolutely must own an album of this ilk this year, just buy something from the more distinguished, seasoned vets like Shadows Fall or As I Lay Dying.
