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By RYAN MAVITY
The Game of Life by Santa Cruz, Calif., band Arsonists Get All the Girls is what Psyopus wishes they were. These guys manage to be subversive, ridiculous and over-the-top and yet still rock at the same time. It’s meant to be inaccessible, I think, but it’s way, way less dense and doesn’t have the snickering art-fag posturing that Psyopus put out.
Actually, AGATG is pretty accessible, or at least as accessible as a band named Arsonists Get All the Girls can possibly be. Beneath the Casio keyboards and long, inane song titles like “Business in the Front,” “Save the Castle Screw the Princess” and “Claiming Middle Age a Decade Early,” is a pretty tight thrash/death metal band. The band employs two vocalists who alternate growls and shrieking screams, which gives the listener the impression that the band is coming from a zillion directions. Other songs blend in genres like the 47-second “To Get Eaten By the Rats,” which features an Anthrax-inspired shout-along chorus. Many of the same tricks used in mathcore or Nintendo metal are here, but AGATG is much more focused in their attack and don’t let the goofy atmospherics dominate their sound.
Not all the tracks are going to work in this genre, of course. “Torutasia” starts out promising but quickly turns damn near unlistenable. “13 Year Old Ruby” also tries a little too hard to be weird. However, other tracks work well, like “Claiming Middle Age a Decade Early,” which manages to blend a little funk, death metal and odd keyboard effects into a hyperactive freakout. “Taiwanese Troft Trouble” starts out a little crappy and then gets better once the band slows down and the keyboards and death growls come in. The guitar work is creative, as most mathcore is. And as previously stated, the keyboard effects here compliment the music well.
It’s not really a surprise that AGATG started out as a joke; there’s an anarchist tone to this music. The band is much better than it gives itself credit for. The best moments on The Game of Life are when the band just kicks up the volume and thrashes out. It’s that “who gives a shit” spirit that makes them really good. It’s just a shame they aren’t getting much underground radio play because lovers of all heavy genres would dig what AGATG have to offer.
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