Tuesday: The Arusha Accord - The New Face of Revenge

     I know you haven't been able to get your metal fix from me for a while, but we're going to remedy that situation right now. And to do it, we're going to start with something a little techy for last Tuesday.

     Mathy British proggers The Arusha Accord might not be full on Tech, but they've certainly got enough tech flavour to kick off some catching up with a belated Tech Tuesday track. Arusha's 2009 debut LP The Echo Verses is an all-around rock-solid, under-the-radar tech-core album that I've sort of forgotten about and then excitedly rediscovered in my music collection a couple of times now.

     A bigger catalogue might keep this promising young band on my radar a bit longer, a problem The Arusha Accord might be able to help me with if and when they finish up writing their second record. For the time being, however, I'll just have to rediscover The Echo Verses once again and jam "The New Face of Revenge". Join me?

The Arusha Accord - Last Rise of the Fallen King

     Whether or not it's a bad word in your household, the "metalcore" umbrella can cover so much ground, can't it? Case in point: when first hearing British band The Arusha Accord, my initial thought was "OK, some tasty strain of metalcore then..."

     But there's so much more going on with The Arusha Accord than some chugga chuggas and some screamed vocals. They're techy, proggy, and even mathy -- think a little Dillinger-esque, maybe some The Safety Fire, or some early Architects -- but they've also got some cleans and harmonies in there that leather-clad metal purists might deride as "emo" -- a heavy, techy, Silverstein comes to mind.

     It's a well balanced mix of tech and melody that makes The Echo Verses an interesting listen from start to finish. That finish is where we're stopping today, with album closer "Last Rise of the Fallen King". It opens with a very Toolish guitar and bass part, and it only gets better from there.