Review by Adam M on November 2, 2018.

Arsis have come to grasp the melodic death metal genre quite well.  The music here is melodic yet has an undeniably heavy streak to it that elevates it above much of the music of the genre.  Indeed, it is the band’s ability to blend the different ends of the heaviness spectrum that makes them so successful.  The music is vicious and razor sharp, but brings the harmonies to counterbalance things out. 

The riffs are addictive and add a huge impact to the disc.  One could compare them to the likes of At the Gates, though the vocals are a little more vicious, as is the music.  Still, this is a melodic death album that brings aggression to the table, making it much more interesting.  Songs like As Deep As Your Flesh make their mark and bring some serious chops.  The music does stay relatively similar, so if you don’t like the style of one song, you won’t like the whole thing.  Still, the representation of scathing melodic death is one that is needed in the scene because there aren’t many bands operating that sound like this.  Though it is only somewhat innovative, it captures your attention with its ferocity instead.  This is still not a perfect recording and there is music within the melodic death genre like Omnium Gatherum that is much more interesting than what is being performed here.  It simply is a bit too standard sounding and doesn’t go off in a number of interesting directions. 

Visitant is still a great entry to the melodic death genre and does some things that other albums from this genre are lacking.  The ferocious nature of the album is different than a lot of what you’ll hear in the genre and gives the album credibility.  The song-writing is also at least as good as many albums from melodic death metal and makes for a fairly memorable listening experience. 

Rating: 7.5 out of 10