After Slaughter of the Soul, melodic death metal essentially went straight down the tubes and exchanged its onetime in-your-face attitude and unparalleled aggression with powderpuff posturing and highly generic, cliched songwriting…. until now! Arsis' A Celebration of Guilt is the perfect marriage of shimmery snakecharming melody, efficient, jam-packed songwriting, and a harnessed virtuosity so infectious you'll have to wear condoms over your eardrums to avoid its entrancing spell! Spreading its wings over and above the narrow confines of black metal, thrash, and death metal, Arsis has ripened a sound that owes as much to Dissection and recent Immortal as it does to Heartwork-era Carcass and the finger-cramping fretboard heroism of vintage Yngwie Malmsteen. If you've been searching for a metal album that can truly molest you with its melody, A Celebration of Guilt is the absolute frontrunner.