Artas' predominant genre is thrash metal, with all the songs having at least some thrash. Their secondary genre is modern metal, straightforward and extreme. There are also influences of death metal, metalcore and even a few black metal sounding guitars.
Vocally it's really diverse. There are death metal growls, hardcore yells, gruff melodic singing and regular melodic singing. The lyrics are delivered in German, English and Spanish.
Even though there are a bunch of different styles utilized on The Healing, there's still not a lot of originality. The songs are well played with some clever riffs and a few hooks, but it's not very memorable.
The one memorable part of the CD is the cover of Coolio's "Gangsta's Paradise." It was a great rap song, but changing it into an extreme metal song is a risky proposition. It actually works. You have to give Artas credit for trying it, and it paid off. Taking a few more chances and trying different things throughout the CD would have made The Healing better.
(released October 7, 2008 on Napalm Records)
