Trust Betrayal

Arched Fire's tale is an increasingly common one here in Finland. They existed for a very short time, in this case from 1989 to 1990, and broke up without recording an album only to come back nearly 30 years later to attend to that unfinished business, releasing the rock-solid Remote Control as a result. After some promising singles, they have finally returned with new material, and by the sounds of it, they haven't lost a step.

Trust Betrayal sees the band getting a little thrashier and more direct than before while still displaying a decent amount of melody. Their sound recalls old-school acts like Metallica, Judas Priest, and even Mercyful Fate, but it all comes together to make a fairly individual sound with hooks, melodies, and aggression to spare. Most tracks are hard edged and punishing skull stompers like opener "Fear" and "Mastermind," but the band experiments a bit with the odd time signatures of "Corporeal Abhorrence of Entrails" and the punky "Wings of Chrome." The musicianship is tight enough to make you think this band had indeed played for 30+ years, with Kristan Herman's piercing, slightly nasally shriek sounding pretty close to Halford in his Painkiller days, and the band is more than able to keep up with both him and guest singer Tim Owens' strong performance on the killer advance single "Pestilence."

I can't say Arched Fire will blow your mind, but their polished, old-school sound will definitely jostle it as they make you bang your fucking head. Worthy.