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With this release, he band continues to settle in nicely.-
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| Scar Symmetry: The Unseen Empire |
Melodic Death Metal
Nuclear Blast Records
May 17th, 2011
- The Anomaly - 3:51
- Illuminoid Dream Sequence - 5:00
- Extinction Mantra - 5:32
- Seers of the Schaton - 5:51
- Domination Agenda - 4:00
- Astronomicon - 4:04
- Rise of the Reptilian Regime - 4:25
- The Draconian Arrival - 5:25
- Alpha and Omega - 5:02
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| Review Information |
Release length: 43:10
Review posted on May 9th, 2011
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| | Overall Score: 7/10 |
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| Discography |
Discography covers all information available up to day of review and is updated if future albums are reviewed. |
| Full-Length(s): |
Symmetric in Design (2005) • Pitch Black Progress (2006) • Holographic Universe (2008) • Dark Matter Dimensions (2009)
The Unseen Empire (2011)
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| CD Single(s): |
The Illusionist (2006) • Morphogenesis (2008) • The Consciousness Eaters (2009) • Noumenon and Phenomenon (2009)
Ascension Chamber (2009) • The Iconoclast (2010)
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| Demo(s): |
Seeds of Rebellion (2004)
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| Review |
Scar Symmetry, what's more to say about this band at this point other then "You either love them, or you hate them." The group exploded onto the scene back in 2005 and became the staple for the Melodic Death Metal scene for many years, and when vocalist Christian Alvestam had left the band, things kind of went to hell and two vocalists had to be brought in to replace the guy, a move many fans were none to happy with. Dark Matter Dimensions marked the start of a new Scar Symmetry, and the fans were divided amongst each other. The Unseen Empire marks the group's fifth full-length offering, and second utilizing two vocalists, but do the faults of the previous recording appear once more on this release?
First of all, the main issue to debate about this release is the vocal work presented. For The Unseen Empire, there has been a great deal of improvement. Wile the gutterals were never necessarily the problem, though they do come off a bit deeper with this recording, it's the clean vocals that became the major issue, and for this album, they are a little better, but not by much. With the band focusing on trying to replicate the softer tones of the previous clean singing style presented, they instead find these clean vocals coming off rather nasal and restrained, and you can even hear what sounds like pitch correction at times during moments where the vocals require a little more effort or power to reach higher levels. "Illuminoid Dream Sequence" is the first track to incorporate this, and while it is a good push from the vocalist, it sounds horrible, conflicting greatly with the music thanks to that awkward nasal voice. But, when there's no real drastic push int he clean vocals, for the most part they are low and generally the same nasal pitch and becomes very bland, as well as quickly grow boring for the listener. The gutterals remain deep and intimidating, perfectly working with the often heavier and faster music that accompany them, and for the most part these seem to dominate the vocal performances of the album.
Musically, the album is about what you would expect from Scar Symmetry at this point. The cold yet haunting mechanical feel of the material, however, is pretty much absent from the material on this album. The more accessable Melodic Death Metal approach does exist, as well as some traces of cold musical pieces throughout the recording. Each track typically offers up a different music experience, keeping the sound of the recording heavily varied. "Extinction Mantra" is a heavier track that goes in and out of faster and slower speeds, and the slower speeds are, of course, dominated more with the clean vocals. However, this track benefits nicely fromt he clean vocals, as they surprisingly don't sound ass nasal here, as well as have a more powerful performance to the softer style incorporated, giving them a bit of a stronger range as well. The same goes for the following track "Seers of the Schaton" which captures the original clean versus gutteral vocal performances of Scar Symmetry practically perfectly, and one of the only songs on the release to have that mechanical feel at all.
For the most part, the songs on here are pretty good, and once you become adjusted to the clean vocals being somewhat nasal, it's really not that bad. However, tracks like "The Anomaly" and "Illuminoid Dream Sequence", even "The Draconian Arrival", all have some issues with the clean singing pitch being a bit too illsuiting for the music and ultimately become bland. "The Anomaly" is also a song that, while infectious and insanely catchy, just simply doesn't feel like Scar Symmetry and more like a general mainstream-oriented Melodic Death Metal track. There's a good number of solid songs, like "Seers of the Schaton" and "Astronomicon", but there's a good amount of songs that are just not as inspiring and aren't quite as memorable or moving as they could be. The Unseen Empire does end on a positive note with "Alpha and Omega", another song that has a little extra going on in the background to give it a mechanical atmosphere that plays out like a traditional Scar Symmetry song, changing the music up a good number of times in the five minute long track to keep the listener attentive, and even finding the vocals to be beneficial for the track too.
Al in all, there's a good number of tracks that feel like solid Scar Symmetry, both new and old, but at the same time there are plenty of weaker moments to be had. It's clear the band is finally settling in with the new vocalists, as well as acknowledging their pros and cons, which is great news. Thingd are starting to go back to the way they were with The Unseen Empire, which will surely attract some of the fans their previous full-length caused them to lose, and for good reason. Between fast and heavy tracks, as well as slow and ominous material, Scar Symmetry seem to be working hard to getting back in touch with what made the group a household name in the first place. However, with the number of forgettable tracks on the release compared to the memorable and gut-punchingly addicting songs is still rather staggering, and finds this release still limping across the finish line, but at least the stride has picked up immensely.
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Digital review copy of this release provided by:
Nuclear Blast Records.
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