The 2012 Arsies: January 27, 2012

January 27, 2012

It's likely that every Canadian metalhead friend of mine will disagree with my judgment today. Fine by me; I've done enough homework for this battle that I won't be losing sleep over their agitation.
See, “One” and “Scurrilous” came out late last March (on the same day, no less), so I've had nine long months to listen to both these albums. And listen I did to them, obsessively at times. In the beginning, the PtH was my personal favorite, and the TesseracT was the underdog. But over time, the flaws in “Scurrilous” grew louder in my perception; not just the catastrophic vocals, but also their disconnectedness from the rest of the band's showy prowess. “One” is not without its flaws, either — after a while, it can come across as sterile and inhuman in its flood of digital layers and steadfast obscuring of recognizable guitar riffs. But by the end of those nine months, I was still hearing new and interesting material in “One”, instead of flinching while listening to “Scurrilous”. TesseracT wins another round, but their work will be cut out for them in two weeks as they challenge Anthrax.
That's it for this week! Rest up, my hearties, because starting next week, every single remaining battle is a tough one, starting with DevilDriver against Omnium Gatherum.