Arched Fire – Remote Control

While recycling may be good for the planet and many of us individually, it’s rarely a good thing when it comes to creating new music. An album that sounds recycled sounds lazy right out of the gate with that fate being very unfortunately put upon throngs of bands that have come and gone, but it’s despite such adversity that many bands still manage to rise above such a sticky trap. With their latest, Arched Fire succeeds where others have failed, albeit seemingly close at times.

You don’t need to always be breaking new ground whenever you’re making a new album, that’s just unnecessary. It is important, however, to always bring your unique flavors and approach to any given performance otherwise the work is almost guaranteed to feel bland, uninspired, or even downright insulting depending on the performance that the band in question would dare to bring forth. Forunately, though, it’s with a good deal of dexterity and passion that Arched Fire managed to dodge any such pitfall without succumbing to the ultimate sin of not just being boring, but a rip-off. “Remote Control” absolutely follows the same roads and paths that many works like this have traveled down thousands of times with the power and substance that’s to be found in all ten of these tracks, but it’s not in any scenario that Arched Fire misses their mark or lets up down in their performance between the riffs, speed, and cohesion that is all but trademark when the realms of thrash and heavy metal come together, making for an often heard but still immensely successful concoction. They don’t quite get to a height can be considered monumental, sadly, as this performance often feels restricted by what I can only assume to be Arched Fire’s immense passion for a sound that’s preventing them from creating something that’s certifiably their’s, but it’s in place of that which the listener can really feel how much fun the band is having for the whole of the record and that single-handedly makes “Remote Control” a very fun listen.

Records like this feel quite common by many standards if we’re to look exclusively at their execution, but it’s despite that which we found ourselves with an album that is still enjoyable by all regards which definitely makes this a success for Arched Fire and everything that they brought forth with “Remote Control”.

LISTEN to “Remote Control” on YouTube here.

LIKE Arched Fire on Facebook here.