By August Edwards
After 20+ years, a record deal from hell, and a few lineup changes, Anesthesia dominates with their brutal fifth album: They Will Arrive.
Anesthesia is known for their professionalism, hellacious heavy metal, and take-no-shit attitude. They Will Arrive is the band’s most powerful album to date. Not only has the band kept a consistent, venerable work ethic and have always put everything on the table, this album seems to cement the idea that they’ll be kicking ass for the next 60 years at least.
Every track is a wicked, adrenaline-pumping experience. The first song, “Dirt,” is just plain fast and rowdy. Beginning with a cutting riff from lead guitarist Jon Singleton, there’s a sudden urge to buckle up for safety (or, not buckle up at all, knowing the consequences) because there’s a sense that some dangerous shifts are coming. Vocalist Jake Pacheco has a wily growl going on, and the entire band’s eagerness clearly comes through the record.
“Flying Without Wings” has something to prove: that Anesthesia has the right to rampage. While the song feels low to the ground, battered about, the striking lyric “Burnin’ holes in the sky" drives home that the band will fly without any goddamn wings, they’ll fly on their own will. This is a howl-and-beat-your-chest kind of song.
Already, these first two tracks have primed the listener to get ready for a riot. “They Will Arrive,” the title track, is a formidable barrage, and pairs nicely with all of the tension that has been built.
Drummer Dax Lujan sort of goes George of the Jungle with the following song “Snakes,” which adds to the untamed atmosphere the band creates with some ambient noises, including hissing. Again, there’s the familiar feeling that something infernal is encroaching. Pacheco draws out the "s" sound at the end of words, adding to the song's flourish in production.
“Eraser” is my favorite song on the album. Aaron Bustamante rips some bass, taking the reins along with Lujan in the beginning; it's fast to an extreme degree, a destructive force. As the song washes over me, I feel it erasing my brain and replacing it with blind fearlessness.
Pacheco and Lujan are particularly emotive in “The Whole World Again;” the song might be meant to push the listener into overdrive or a dark hysteria. “Dragged Down,” the instrumental track of They Will Arrive, features a bluesy, wailing guitar, painting the notion of downfall or hardship.
The last track of the album, “Devoured,” feels like the Anesthesia anthem. Clocking in at over six minutes long, this is without a doubt their “leave it all on the field” song. It invokes the distinct awareness of blood coursing through your veins—a meditation in the pure power you have within yourself. Despite any denotation of the word devoured, the song is a brilliant celebration.
They Will Arrive surges with first-rate rock and roll and doesn’t let you think otherwise. Additionally, it makes one thing very clear: Anesthesia is absolutely unstoppable. The ardor the fourpiece has not only for playing music but for showing up and putting in the dirty work is the stuff of legends. For a band who’s Myspace page is linked in their Facebook bio, they don’t seem to be showing signs of slowing down.
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