Aresz might be the most underrated band in the world. They're immensely talented, incredibly unique, and just plain fun. The band members are all very hard workers who have been active on the scene for decades. Yeah they might be stuck playing in shitty small venues (since barely anyone has ever heard of them) with a bunch of crappy, inferior bands but these guys (and girl) genuinely kick ass. Now technically, Grating is the first album from the band. That album is one I mostly panned since it is honestly quite half-baked and not really a good product. However in a mere span of two years, Aresz would get their stuff together, hone their potential, and unleash this killer piece of work, Beat Blast Spiral.
Beat Blast Spiral literally corrects all of the problems that plagued and brought down Grating. Piss-poor demo production? Gone. Now, you've got the nice and thick heavy metal sound that you've always wanted. Lots of meandering midtempo stuff? Gone. The speed is cranked up a notch and everything flows better. Boring, half-baked riffs? Gone. Now, the guitar work is killer and entertaining. Everything that was wrong with Grating is gone and anything that was good about it is expanded and improved upon.
With that in mind, I consider Beat Blast Spiral to be the first "real" Aresz album. This is because the band would gain a vital core member and bassist extraordinaire Syoi. For those who don't know (i.e. basically everyone), Aresz actually has two bassists. One guy, Masumi, essentially plays rhythm (on 4 strings) and the other guy, Syoi, plays "lead bass" on a gaudy 6-stringed bass. The band did have this idea on their first album, Grating, as well, but here it truly matures for the first time. This is a major addition to their sound and one that is an essential part of the band's identity.
Another essential defining feature of Aresz is their magnificent frontwomen, Rumiko. You simply won't find another vocalist quite like her anywhere. Female vocalists in metal tend to be more along the heavy/power metal variety with strong high notes and all that jazz. Rumiko, on the other hand, takes a gritty and rough, strong masculine tone. Her vocal style is more like a thrash metal vocalist's idea of singing. There's no trying to sound pretty or nice or anything like that. It's simply very powerful and aggressive. Her style of vocals has more in common with the likes of Kiba from Gargoyle or Nov from Aion/Volcano/Zigoku Quartet than any female vocalist I've ever heard.
The genre Aresz falls in is pretty ambiguous. You could cop out and call it "heavy metal," but I guarantee it's not like any heavy metal you've heard before. It's better to think of them in a vague grey area of heavy/power/speed/thrash, but that's not really helpful either. Aresz's riffwork is one of the reasons why they hard to classify and also such a great band. The band definitely tends to hang out in the heavier end of the spectrum of heavy metal. They don't shy away from that glorious double bass or those thrashy sounding riffs, and I absolutely love it. As another nice feature, Aresz's leadwork (in both the guitar and bass) tends to have a fairly strong neoclassical bent.
The unique approach of Syoi on the 6 string bass is something that is worth further explaining. It's easy to miss it, but this guy's bass parts are completely nuts. Every song is covered with elaborate, neoclassical-styled tapping, nice slapped parts, and just flat out awesome bass leads. The crazy bass fluff never gets in the way of the songs. Instead, it complements and enhances the entire experience. I've never heard any other band in metal utilize the bass guitar like Aresz does, and that is one of the many things that makes them stand out to me.
The songs are fairly consistent in quality and style. Jumble Up↑ is one of my favorite numbers on here thanks to how headbangable the main riff is and the amazing slapped bass lines. FOR PEACE OF MIND is another winner for me thanks to its brisk pace and high energy. I also really enjoy Don't be so foolish! for its goofy title and the cool bass break it does in the middle. The only real song on here that's a bit of a miss is Struggle To One's Feet that has some awkward rap lines shoved in there. I'm not really sure what they were thinking with that, but it's definitely out of place. It's just one song out of the 1 hour+ runtime though, so I can cut them some slack here and not let it bother me too much.
Most importantly, Aresz is just plain fun. It's the kind of heavy metal that naturally gets your fist pumping and head banging. The riffs are fun as hell to listen to, and the guitar solos are all excellent and masterfully executed. On paper, the style they play doesn't seem too remarkable, but the execution is excellent and much different from the norm (especially with all the neat bass work). The band really started to unlock their inner potential with Beat Blast Spiral. It's not their best album, but this work elevates and firmly establishes Aresz as a force to be reckoned with in the world of Japanese metal.
Rating: 85/100