ALBUM REVIEW: Scarred – Scarred

It’s been a fair while since the world last heard from Luxembourg’s technical death metallers SCARRED. They released their second album, Gaia-Medea, in 2013, and things have been pretty quiet since then. Now, after nearly eight years, they’re finally back with a third, self-titled record. While the album definitely picks up the crushing, technical death metal the band left off with in 2013, it also represents an obvious evolution. Specifically, it sees them take cues from the likes of PINK FLOYD for a more progressive and atmospheric offering. The result is a lengthy, dynamic record, designed to flow from one track to the next without interruption.

The album opens with Sol, a short instrumental intro with ominous synths and electronics which gradually build before kicking into the first song proper, Mirage. This song starts out as violent and hard-hitting as one might expect from a band like SCARRED, but things get particularly interesting in its second half. Here, the band return to the motif heard in Sol, and stay there for a gradually building atmospheric post-metal-esque section. It makes for a crushing early high-point on the record, even evoking the likes of AMENRA. Crucially, it shows that SCARRED are especially good when they take their time with an idea. This is something they prove again later on eighth track In Silent Darkness.

A key feature of this record is that it’s the band’s first with vocalist Yann Dalscheid. Right from the start, it’s clear Dalscheid is a good fit with SCARRED. On Mirage, he proves he’s comfortably capable of the harsher stylings this kind of music tends to require. He also shows significant range – veering from low gutturals to more melodic (but often still harsh) vocals with ease. This makes for a welcome addition to the band’s sound, and is something they take advantage of to expand the record’s horizons significantly.

While the one-two of Sol and Mirage provides a solid opening, SCARRED do take a moment to find their groove on this record. Tracks three and four, A.D…Something and Chupacabra, are both perfectly fine, but things pick up significantly from fifth track Prisms. This one is another of the record’s several shorter instrumental interludes, and like the others, it serves the album well. It features atmospheric, ominous guitars, and flows straight into the swaggering Merry Go Round. With massive riffs and synth parts, and some particularly melodic vocals, this song is a definite album highlight. The same is true of next track Nothing Instead – a GOJIRA-esque rager which features some ridiculous guitar tapping and an impressive solo.

SCARRED keep up the quality over the next few tracks as well. Next up is the already-mentioned In Silent Darkness – a lengthy, methodical instrumental which doesn’t feel too far removed from later-OPETH’s more prog-heavy stylings. After this, the band offer up the crushing epic A.H.A.I.A., the longest song on the record. Eager to keep things interesting, the track’s latter half sees the band introduce mesmerising shamanic chanting before eventually giving way to another interlude, entitled Lua. This time, SCARRED build the piece around driving bass and an emotive guitar solo David Gilmour would be proud of. Acoustic guitars and tremolo picked leads gradually join the fray, building to a crescendo before segueing nicely into more usual crushing fare on Dance Of The Giants.

At this point, SCARRED might have done well to start thinking about wrapping things up. Dance Of The Giants, and Petrichor which follows, are both pretty good, but neither quite hit the heights of their predecessors. This is mainly down to the fact that the band have been going for quite a while at this point. While they do well to keep things varied and dynamic, there’s no getting away from the fact that it’s all pretty intense. As a result, the record may struggle to keep listeners’ attention all the way, especially for the first couple of listens.

In many ways, this feels like a bit of a fresh start for SCARRED. They’ve got a new singer, a broader vision, and the whole thing has been such a long time coming. Also, often when artists choose to self-title their records it indicates that the album reflects a sense of their identity. If that’s the case here, then Scarred is more than promising. It may be a little on the long side, but it is definitely worth persevering with. Those that do will hear a solid record full of plenty of good ideas and a particularly strong mid-section. Crucially, it should leave fans hoping for a follow-up a lot sooner than the eight-year wait we had for this.

Rating: 7/10

Scarred is set for release on January 22nd via Klonosphere Records.

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