Arsis and thesis

In music and prosody, arsis and thesis refer to the stronger and weaker parts of a musical measure or poetic foot. Arsis and thesis were the raising and lowering of the foot in beating of time, or the raising and lowering of the voice in pitch or stress. Accordingly, in music and in Greek scansion arsis is an unaccented note (upbeat), but in Latin and modern poetry it is the stressed syllable (ictus).

Latin and English poetry

In Latin (and Greek) dactylic hexameter, the strong part of a foot is the first syllable — always long — and the weak part is what comes after — two short syllables (dactyl: long—short—short) or one long syllable (spondee: long—long). Because Classical poetry was not based on stress, the arsis is often not stressed; only consistent length distinguishes it.

In English, poetry is based on stress, and therefore arsis and thesis refer to the accented and unaccented parts of a foot.

Arsis

Arsis is an American technical melodic death metal band from Virginia Beach, Virginia, formed in 2000. The band is currently signed to Nuclear Blast.

Biography

Demos and Willowtip era (2000-2006)

Arsis was started by James Malone and Mike Van Dyne in 2000, who met while attending the Berklee College of Music in Boston. They recorded two demos independently in 2001 and 2002 (which were later officially released via Negative-Existence Records), signed to Willowtip Records in 2003, and performed their first live shows with Kalibas, Beaten Back to Pure, Pyrexia, Daath, Ion Dissonance, Six Feet Under, Full Blown Chaos, The Red Chord, and Dying Fetus. Arsis released two full-length albums and an EP from 2004 to 2006. During this time, Arsis performed on their first national tours with Misery Index, Incantation, Necrophagist, Neuraxis, Alarum, Dead to Fall, Misery Signals, The Faceless, All Shall Perish, Napalm Death, and A Life Once Lost, as well as performed on the main stage at the 2006 New England Metal and Hardcore Fest and the First Annual California Metalfest.