2008 Woodie Awards
These Arms Are Snakes' Easter, out Oct. 10
Sue Edelberg
Issue date: 10/24/06 Section: Arts & Entertainment
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With two EP's under their belt, a split called Like a Virgin and This is Meant to Hurt You, Easter marks their fourth release since 2003. Save for one release on Hydrahead Records, These Arms Are Snakes are a band of the label Jade Tree Records.
Easter is similar in sound to the bands' past albums, though it does lack the sure-fire potential for another catchy, tightly composed rocking college radio staple like "Riding the Grape Dragon" off of This is Meant to Hurt You (2003).
However, if you like their usual sound, you get almost an entire 45 minutes of it. The only main variations on the album are two short instrumental tracks and an acoustic track that changes up their song style for just barely over two minutes. The two instrumental songs are ambient, synthesizer-driven dream-like pieces, much the way Minus the Bear likes to throw in a couple of softer, electronic tracks throughout their albums.
For those of you unfamiliar to their sound, These Arms Are Snakes have the hip music style of all the post-hardcore, tough, indie rock boys that are moving in that oh-so-trendy dancey-yet-rocking direction. The vocals are a throatier version of the popular half yelling, half singing style that is catching on, probably originating from bands such as Rage Against the Machine (though no rapping here). The Rise have a comparable vocal sound to them, as well as some of their guitar melodies. At the Drive In and Mars Volta could be compared to them, using a similar style of near-yelling vocals and guitar.
Their reverb-laden sound, with its dark, eerie, and spacey (though not necessarily slow) rock guitar, has a lot of mathy technical aspects incorporated into it. Q & Not You come to mind as a band with a fellow math-rock sound to their complicated guitar riffage. Their rock/guitar style is similar to Rage's classic chorus breakdowns, and their bass lines mimic that of Tool.
To getter an even better idea of the music niche they fit into, These Arms Are Snakes have toured with The Blood Brothers, Engine Down, Hot Water Music, Against Me!, and Minus the Bear. The band members come from ex-bands Botch, Kill Sadie, and Nineironspitfire.
Visit their official website at thesearmsaresnakes.org for more info or call up UNCG's radio station, WUAG 103.1, at 334-5450 to request a listen for song off of Easter.
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