Artisan – The Stain of Life (SubLevel Records)
Monday, 7th March 2022
Originally releasing a demo in 2003 only to fade quietly into oblivion, Artisan return to a scene well equipped to handle their brand of progressive-oriented melodic thrash on this debut album The Stain of Life. Bassist/vocalist Mike Bear has experience playing and performing in numerous acts, including live work with Dark Tranquillity and Insomnium beyond recording with Prototype and Abysmal Dawn – rounding out the material as a trio with guest spots from Kragen Lum of Heathen, Charles Elliott of Abysmal Dawn, and Ian Jekelis of Aborted to spice up specific guitar/vocal textures.
The main riffing and rhythm section parts contain propulsive movements – intricate chord sequences that invite these musicians to push their abilities to the hilt, often hinting at everything from Forbidden and Coroner to latter day Death, Into Eternity, and Insomnium when digging into “Invisible Empire” and the shape-shifting mid-tempo churner “Useless”. Often the lower-tuning gives the guitars more brutality, without sacrificing the melodic twists and hooks present – drummer Justin Bouchee driving the title track in such a progressive/groove interplay for the seven-minute plus outing that you remain riveted to his hand/feet juxtapositions that move from thrash to power to death and doom-like mechanics at the drop of a hat. The mix of strong clean vocals and extreme growls/screams matches Artisan’s versatility on the musical front – conveying heightened interest in what comes next for “I Own the Silence” – specific instrumental sections hinting at Scandiavian death meets Bay Area groove-like mastery for pit savagery. When choosing to push the BPM’s to blasting measures for parts of “We All Bleed”, there’s a natural pendulum swing to controlled power/progressive and quieter, clean sections where the members execute their parts in calm restraint – Mike serving up a killer bass solo paying homage to the greats like Steve DiGiorgio, Cliff Burton, and Geddy Lee.
You don’t hear many US bands taking the foundation of melodic, progressive thrash and adding in the shades of doom and death quite like Artisan does here. Let’s hope The Stain of Life isn’t a one-off – as there is plenty to explore and expand upon through the next record and more.
