The 2014 Arsies: February 13, 2014

February 13, 2014

There's a reason that the core mechanic of an Arsies playoff day is a repeated listening party of two albums. The idea is simple: context is a hugely important factor in the enjoyment of a Heavy Metal Experience™. Headbanging is a relative, malleable affair... some days moreso than others. I never force my daily deliberations, because I know full well by now that, not infrequently, my preconceived notions of a matchup go out the window as soon as the music starts. Today was definitely one of those days.
Although I started the day thinking this was a dead heat, toward the end of my second full series of listens, by the time I'd finished listening to The Battle Of Chamdo and Enemies Of Compassion, I'd finally decided that Gorguts had taken the day. "Well," I thought, "innovative songwriting overcomes questionable production values, after all." And then, as I started typing up this commentary, I came across a video playthrough of Revocation's Spastic. Then I thought to myself, "Be honest with yourself, son. This right here is the shiznit, biatch." True that, biatch. Revocation must surely get the win, right? And then I found a video of Absconders, giving Gorguts the edge again.
So, I did what any reasonable and disciplined metalhead would do: I set myself up for an unprecedented third listen of both albums. It was that third exhausting listen through Colored Sands that wore me down. Unfortunately for Gorguts, it wore me away from giving them the win. Congratulations to Revocation, who will step into the final battle against the winner of tomorrow's Semifinal match: The Dillinger Escape Plan or TesseracT.