ALBUM REVIEW: Martyrs of the Storm – Scarab

It has been a long, long five years since Egyptian death metallers SCARAB dropped their underground pseudo-breakthrough album Serpents of the Nile. That album saw the Egyptians break into Europe, at least on a underground level, most notably bringing them to the UK for a dual-headliner tour with DE PROFUNDIS in 2016. But the wait is over, and 2020 sees SCARAB delve back into the Duat for another slab of brutalising death metal – but how Martyrs of the Storm does it rank up with their career-launching Serpents of the Nile?

SCARAB waste absolutely no time showing their strength with Martyrs of the Storm‘s titanic title track. Big, hook-heavy riffs burst from the speakers in abundance here, while a very dark atmosphere permeates throughout from the opening seconds. It’s immediately clear that Martyrs of the Storm is an angrier, more aggressive fare than Serpents of the Nile, but SCARAB are sacrificing none of the atmosphere and catchiness that made their sophomore so strong either. Necropotence brings some beefy grooves into play, while submerging the sound in a murky darkness that feels inspired by the works of MORBID ANGEL and NILE.

Speaking of the South Carolinian Egyptologists, NILE‘s main man Karl Sanders lends himself to the hyper-brutal Kingdoms of Chaos. Here, SCARAB truly outdo themselves. Displaying Megiddo levels of triumph, Tarek Amr and Al Sharif Marzeban trade off riffs with Sanders‘ shredding in true NILE style, delivering a clear album highlight and one of the most crushingly spectacular examples of death metal thus far in 2020. Bloodmoon Shadows drops the tempo to a ritualistic stomp before unleashing a salvo of barbarity in its riff work, while Circles of Verminejya brings a hook-heavy, to-the-jugular brand of old-school death metal and The Dwellers Beneath carries a crawling, chaotic assault.

Moving into the last portion of Martyrs of the Storm, SCARAB make it perfectly clear they have no intention of dropping the intensity. Oblivious Sanctum is dripping with a layer of dust and grime as it grinds away, while single track Coffin Texts offers up some Middle Eastern sounding lead work and furious aggression at every turn. Penultimate track Saturnian carries some of Martyrs of the Storm‘s heaviest touches of black metal amid the borderline tech-death assault, with DE PROFUNDIS riff-machine Paul Nazarkardeh lending his chops to the brutality. SCARAB close out the record on, perhaps, its strongest track with Upon the Pagan Lands. Here, the Egyptians delve furthest into the Middle Eastern atmosphere that made Serpents of the Nile such a refreshing record, bringing doses of melody to proceedings and doubling down on the black metal undertones that have been subtly scattered across the record.

Combining a raw old-school death metal foundation with a blackened undercurrent, thrash guitar work and flourishes of technicality, Martyrs of the Storm is by far SCARAB‘s strongest addition to their discography to date. An all-star line-up of guest musicians will help bring a bit more attention to the Egyptian’s newest album, but make no mistake – SCARAB are more than capable of carrying the excellence of Martyrs of the Storm on their own shoulders. It has been a long five years since Serpents of the Nile, but it has been worth the wait.

Rating: 8/10

Martyrs of the Storm is out now via ViciSolum Productions.

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