Progressive Metal At Its Very Best – The Arbitrary

If you are like me, you think “The Big Easy”, Mardi Gras, Cajun food, Tulane or Katrina when New Orleans is mentioned, right? Well, it is also considered the birthplace of Jazz, in all of its wonderful variants. Horns, tubas, upright bass, snare drums, accordions; often played in the streets as part of a festival or parade. Sue me. I love it all (mostly traditional Bop and Hard Bop). You get my point. But, you ask yourself, this is a Metal site, correct? This is where things go a little sideways, because there is a new name in Progressive Metal that was born and bred in this same city at the end of the Mississippi River. Hold on tight because, The Arbitrary is about to change your perception of New Orleans music.

Jeffery Fisher and Adam Sauter

Instrumental band The Arbitrary was born of wunderkind guitarist, bassist and composer Jeffery Fisher and his pal, drummer extraordinaire Adam Sauter in June of 2015. That’s right, a duo. These young men have created a niche for themselves like no other band has done. While admittedly influenced by bands such as Intervals, ERRA, Scale the Summit, Polyphia, August Burns Red, Cloudkicker, Periphery, Divine Realm and Dream Theater, they are carving out a slice of Progressive Metal that has yet been left unclaimed. Shortly after forming the band, Fisher released a DIY, demo entitled Transient Nature that immediately landed them as the opening act for Tides of Man, Yvette Young and WRVTH. Shortly thereafter, they hit the studio in the winter of 2015 with Jonathan Dolese (of Shores of Acheron and Brother Wolf fame) at KonKrete Studios in Harahan, LA, resulting in their spectacular debut release of Entropy, released earlier this year. This led to their continued success opening for the likes of Traitors, Bloodline, Morningside and many others. Not comfortable sitting on their laurels, and relentless in the pursuit of bigger and better things, The Arbitrary are already working on a new CD. From their online resources: “We’ve really begun to find our niche as musicians, and having only two members really allows us to efficiently channel our energy and improve our craft as we continue playing shows and working on new material,” says guitarist Jeffrey Fisher. “In the end, the music is all that matters.” Truth right there…

The Arbitrary’s sound is clean and razor sharp, almost to a fault. Well thought out song structures that utilize atmospheric backgrounds to weave unique and moving textures from which to overlay some of the most fierce shredding and down tuned rhythms available today, contrasted with lovely, simple passages of ambient, cleanly played emotive guitar bordering on Fusion or New Age. One interesting point to make here is that no matter how complex the music becomes, The Arbitrary keep their wonderful sound between the white lines. At no point do they ever head into the extreme. No off the walls, showy solos, overly heavy interludes without kill switches and/or high-note breaks or annoyingly repetitive riffs anywhere. Everything just fits together perfectly and works seamlessly from start to finish; be it through a single song or over the course of the entire release. What they are after and what they achieve are simply beyond belief and so masterfully defined. Mind-blowing really. So rich in depth that being a duo just adds to this impossibly good band’s resume check boxes. Having only two members also allows The Arbitrary to efficiently produce their signature music and is said to create an intimate energy when performing live like no other band out there. Having such a diverse, yet well-focused sound is sure to attract fans from just about any genre while still fascinating us Metal folk and guitar nerds fortunate enough to encounter them. I am left breathless listening to these phenoms. Simply brilliant music from two of the most talented musicians out there in the wild. All one can do is get lost and revel in The Arbitrary. Check out the stream below and become their latest fan…