2006-12-24
Finland's The Scourger are referred to as a thrash band, but I would describe their music as a combination of neo-thrash, a-la
The Haunted and
Hatesphere with some heavier melodic death elements, there's no denying one thing, this is a high quality release, benefiting from a truly awe-inspiring playing abilities and a prefect sound for the band.
The fact that these guys are veterans in their crafts is quite obvious, with two ex-members of melodic death piece
Gandalf and a member of thrashers
Devine Decay to name but a few, its clear these guys have sharpened their talents enough before. From the opening seconds of the intro it's quite clear they know what they're doing, a melodic and yet aggressive of modern thrash with strong growled/shouted vocals that brought to mind
Kreator's Mille with some added girth.
Some of the tracks are brilliant, "Hatehead" is a well balanced combination of speed and technical proficiency with strong melodies, the guitar riffs here are top notch, as is the solid rhythm section, and the melodic guitar leads are just an added bonus.
One of my favorite cuts here is the mid-paced "The Oath & The Lie", strong melodic leads with a steady rhythm that adds strength to the track, judging from pieces like this, these guys are in the same league as some of the more famous counterparts in the neo-thrash scene.
The cover, by the way, is f**king horrible, as good a painting as this is, it looks much more fitting in a power metal album… I understand there's a different edition, with a better cover, But that aside, I find very little to fault with this release.
Alon Miasnikov
