Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
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Free Music Notes for Pitch Black Progress
Free Music Review: Pitch Black Progress
Hit: 5 Stars
Good lord... what an album. Scar Symmetry are a Melodic Death band with sprinklings of Symphonic music (grandiose keyboard sounds, usually in the form of strings). If you thought Melodeath was dead, look no further. There's a new form of Melodic Death arising in Scandinavia, called Symphonic Death Metal, where Melodic Death Metal bands mix more Symphonic oriented sounds in. Scar Symmetry is one of them. The effect is pretty darn great. The songs sound more atmospheric and just as brutal. There are absolutely no hints of Metalcore/ Nu-Metal junk, unlike quite a few Melodeath bands today.
The vocalist Christian Alvestam uses both death vocals (60% of the time) and clean vocals (40%). His death vocals are very good, ranging from mid/high, to low. A lot of the vocals are much lower than the usual Melodic Death vocals, but is similar to low vocals in pure Death Metal. (A good comparison is Mikeal Akerfeldt from Opeth). The clean vocals are very well sung, and reminds me of Russell Allen from Symphony X, but a little less powerful.
The album starts off strongly with the "Illusionist", a Symphonic song, with machine gun drumming and intense guitar work. The chorus is sung beautifully, and is similar to power metal. The solo is very tight and done well. "Slaves To The Subliminal" has a rather menacing verse and changes mood to a clean, powerful chorus. A rather prog-like solo follows suit. "Mind Machine" is another Symphonic oriented song. It is mostly sung, save for one verse sung in death vocals.
The track title, "Pitch Black Progress" is a heavy frenzy of the instruments colliding together. The keyboards are eerie and the bass is plodding and deep. It's probably the heaviest song in the album, with no clean vocals and thrash-like riffs. "Calculate The Apocalypse" is a grand song, with a mixture of clean and death vocals. The verse parts are highly catchy, almost in an industrial beat. The chorus has excellent harmonising between the guitars, and is similar to the Gothenburg style riffs of the old In Flames. "Dreaming 24/7", is a more melodic metal song, as it has a lighter verse and less death vocals than clean. It's similar to a Symphony X song, singing and all. The solo is impressive and harmonising.
"Abstracted" is a fast paced song with a catchy beat. The keyboards are rather ambient and the drumming is top notch and pounding. "Kaleidoscope God" is the longest song (7.09) with a mixture of high-pitched growls, low-pitched growls and clean singing. The drumming is powerful with some well-crafted blast beats. The song constantly changes tempo and mood, from upbeat power metal, to dynamic death metal. The song is rather progressive, with some eminent keyboard orchestral parts. "Retaliator" is the weakest song with some rather awful screaming in the verses, but the bridge and chorus is heavy and pounding, and the solo is pretty good. "Oscillation Point" is highly Symphonic, with the keyboards using a string sound throughout the whole song. The song is mostly sung, with death vocals here and there.
"The Path Of Least Resistance" is a mid-paced song, with some notable keyboard parts around the 2.53 mark followed by guttural vocals. "Carved In Stone" is yet another keyboard oriented song. I'd like to know who is the keyboardist for this band, since their website doesn't mention anything about a keyboardist. Whoever he/she/they are, they do a fantastic job! It's possibly they have recorded with a Symphony. "Deviate From The Norm" ends as strongly as it starts, with some synth keyboard parts and another complex solo in the middle and near the end.
This is a fabulous second album by the Swedish metal band. If you liked this album I'd recommend the following (Symphonic Death) bands: Imperanon, Eternal Tears Of Sorrow, Skyfire, Insomnium and Kalmah. I'd also recommended Symphony X, a Progressive metal band that is unrelated to the Symphonic Death genre, but shares some characteristics (clean singing, the solos and symphonic sound).
Free Music Review: Deviate From the Form (4.5 Stars)
Hit: 4 Stars
Pitch Black Progress - SCAR SYMMETRY
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This is my first into Scar Symmetry and I must say overall I am quite pleased with `Pitch Black Progress'... I have listened to this album a half dozen times now and I am still unlocking more with each listen.
Now, one might ask, `what does Scar Symmetry sound like?' which is a pretty loaded question. They blend in quite a few influences of styles... Melodic, Death, Tech, Prog and then some! Vocally it contrasts progressive-style clean channel vocals with death growls. No one might be quick to jump to the `Opeth' claim, but truthfully with the exception of being from Sweden there is little common between these two groups. Vocally it sounds more like Amorphis' last album `Eclipse' albeit a little more of an 80's sounding clean singing. The guitar playing is exceptional, Jonas Kjellgren & Per Nilsson are a mighty duo able to rival many of their fellow countrymen. The rhythm section is the powerful force which holds SS together... consisting of Kenneth Seil (bass) and Henrik Ohlsson (drums). Ohlsson deserves some special mention for he clearly understands dynamics and uses a very appropriate amount of double kickers and blasts during the heavier parts and a very nice eclectic style during the more melodic parts.
The hardest part for me to get into this band was getting past the clean vocals... not because they bad, they just sound a bit `dated'. I love the clean singing of Mikeal Akerfeldt (Opeth), Chris Krall (Into Eternity) and Tomi Jotson (Amorphis) but Christian Älvestam just seems to fall a bit a short in comparison to these mighty masters. However Scar Symmetry is a new band and they have ample potential to become one of the shining stars in the struggling Melo-Death genre.
Favorite Songs: Slaves To The Subliminal, The Illustionist, Deviate From The Form, and The Kaleidoscopic God,
-4.5 Stars
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Free Music Review: Again with SCAR..good but could be better
Hit: 3 Stars
It seems Scar can't put as much detail in the entire album as they did in 4 of their songs that i love. "Deviate From the Norm" is my favorite song on this album. It has substance, as does "The Illusionist", and "Dreaming 24/7". There is another song that i like but mentioning will not help other listeners. It just seems to me that they can't keep consistant with GREAT ideas. I have created a mixed cd from Symetric and Pitch Black and gathered my favorite 10 songs and I will leave it that.Free Music Review: Metal cooked to perfection
Hit: 5 Stars
I don't care how you classify this album. Melo-death/technical progressive metal...whatever. Sometimes a band can take a formula and just plain, flat-out do it right. I would say that Scar Symmetry's biggest assest is they know how to write good, catchy songs.
The vocalist is AMAZING. He reminds me of an unpolished Russell Allen at times, which fits the music perfectly. Then he also growls and screams in every way possible. This young man is very talented.
This is an instant classic in my mind. I haven't been able to get it out of my CD player in my car for over a month now. If you are a death metal fan you will like this. If you are a progressive metal fan you will like this. If you love guitars, drums, great vocals, great production, and great musicianship...you will like this!
Kudos to Scar Symmetry. They get it. They understand a great heavy riff and memorable catchy choruses. They also construct awesome solos. All of their influences shine through here.
Well done. This is the album of the year in 2006, by far!!!
Free Music Review: Listen to some fun heavy music
Hit: 4 Stars
Listen to Deviate From the Form to get an idea of the style with which this band plays. The vocalist has real singing chops and can hit some pretty menacing and long death growls, so is quite powerful without having to resort to weak metalcore-type screaming/whining. I'd like to see these guys tour the States soon.