Serendipity (noun): (1) an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident; (2) the fact or occurrence of such discoveries.
Synchronicity (noun): the coincidental occurrence of events that seem related but are not explained by conventional methods of causality.
We always get these words confused, though they’re both cool words. Both came to mind as we thought about the following chain of events:
Two days ago we wrote glowingly about the new melodic death metal opus from those Finnish swamplords, Kalmah. Later the same day, we stumbled across a press blurb about a new Finnish thrash/death metal band called The Jasser Arafats that has a debut album on the way, called Condemnation. The album cover (above) plus the band’s wacky name made us pause and jump over to their MySpace page to check out the music. And there, on the band’s MySpace page, was a notice about their upcoming performance on March 19 at a CD release party in Finland for — Kalmah.
And then, just to round everything off, the music turned out to be sick! So, we guess it was both serendipity and synchronicity. And for the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake, we found a widget that allows us to give you a stream of four of the 12 tracks from the forthcoming album. (and that, plus a little more info, you’ll find after the jump . . .)
We’re not gonna claim that these dudes have invented a new form of metal that will transport you into a different plane of existence. You’ll recognize the style — it’s good ol’ thrash-paced death metal.
But holy shit, do these guys do it well! Press play and it’s like opening the door to a blast furnace of scorching headbangery. There’s a real talent for riffage here, with grooves galore, ridiculously hard rhythms, and top-notch, full-throated, howling vocals.
And the production quality is high-end. It just sounds fucking great! If this doesn’t cause you to experience an immediate adrenaline surge and reflexive head-bobbing, we’ll eat our hats. Okay, we don’t wear hats, but we’ll eat something. Preferably something meant for human consumption.
We have no idea what caused these guys to settle on a name like The Jasser Arafats. We’re guessing it wasn’t a choice of role models, given the bleeding star-and-crescent juxtaposed with the nuclear cloud on the album cover. Come to think of it, we’re not sure what that imagery was intended to convey either.
Maybe the name just sounded better than The Mother Theresas. Or The Menachem Begins. Someday we’ll probably find out the answers to these questions. At any rate, the name and the imagery sure gets your attention, and maybe that was the only objective.
Now how about some music? Here’s that widget we found that will allow you to stream four songs from Condemnation while you go about doing whatever it is you do. The album itself is set for an April 14 release on Violent Journey Records. Don’t know how long this widget will work, but if it gives out, the same songs are streaming on the band’s MySpace page. Did we say this shit is sick? See for yourself.
The Jasser Arafats
