  
At the end of November last year, Italian thrash band Arthemis played the Hard Rock Hell festival in Pwllheli. That performance was recorded and has just been released as a live album - Live From Hell.
As fans who saw the band at HRH or Hammerfest last year, or at Download this year will know, the band are great live, with their guitar playing being particularly impressive. They describe themselves as Thrash metal but that'sa description that I don;t think does justice to their sound - I'd simply call them Metal.
Generally the sound quality is excellent - the vocals, drums, guitar and bass are all nice and clear and loud with plenty of power.
One issue with the album is the crowd noise - or lack of it. It sounds like the crowd either wasnt recorded properly and we're just hearing what was picked up by the singer's microphone, or it was recorded separately but was just put way too low in the mix when putting the album together. As a result the album feels too sterile and lacking in atmosphere - very little different to if they'd just recorded it live in the studio, and that's a big disapointment. With the crowd noise at a higher level there would be much more of a live atmosphere and the album would be more enjoyable as a result. Despite this criticism it's a great album and is well worth a listen.
"Live from hell" is out now via Off Yer Rocka recordings.
Track listing:
1. Scars on scars
2. Still awake
3. We fight
4. Home
5. Electri-fire
6. Empire
7. 7 days
8. Vortex |
