Scantropolis

From Metropolis to Scantropolis… grand-looking futuristic stuff on the cover… resembling Shanghai, above all, only that the city wasn’t looking exactly like that back then. Nevertheless, a prophetic picture for sure, and thumbs up for that… fairly promising even before you’ve lent an ear to the actual music… until that point I viewed Scanner one of the finest acts ever, with four stellar albums in their discography, a band that were always destined to ride their winning classic power/speed metal stallions all across the universe, unperturbed by stylistic shifts and genre-transcending caprices.

However, comes a time when a band, or rather its leader, in this case the guitarist Alex Julius, decides on a stylistic shift, either as a way to satisfy some subconscious creative urge or to try and sound more relevant and commercially-viable… cause shredding fast and singing odes to aliens and galaxies far far away would hardly make you a millionaire. I don’t think Julius has ever aimed at this status, but the thing is that he did try to alter his main delivery with the album reviewed here, for reasons that we’ll never be able to fully comprehend. And we’ll also try to see how successful, and also reasonable, such a decision was.

So the erection of this impressive scantropolis was agreed upon, and Julius decided to assign the mayor position to a woman. Yep, we have Lara… sorry, Lisa Croft occupying the place behind the mike, but she also changes the setting almost entirely, the style now being retro quasi-progressive rock/metal with sparse speedy flourishes. It’s not a very profound change of heart as some of the material recalls the power metal heroics from the past two opuses, but it doesn’t exactly sound like a full-fledged Scanner album either. Croft is a fairly cool performer, her composed not very flamboyant attached timbre carrying both the rowdier cuts (“Hallowed be My Name”) and the darker more introspective ones (“Flight of the Eagle”), a few melancholic balladic insertions (“Turn of the Tide”, “Always Alien”) by all means debatable as the album doesn’t offer too many fast-paced moments for those to be considered desirable deviations. There’s this cumbersome, ponderous aura that dictates the proceedings behind the curtains, the more vivid rhythms on “Sister Mary” stirring a momentous drama, but the dominant heavy, mid-tempo at best, stroll gets immediately recaptured thanks to somewhat plodding chuggy pieces (“ The Gambler”) and more optimistic rock-ish joys (“R.I.P.-Rest in Pain”).

This is a pensive, more lethargic Scanner, Julius and his new at the time (save for the bassist Marc Simon) comrades subjecting their rowdier tactics in order to accommodate the female connection in their midst. Or so I prefer to think as Croft can surely stretch her vocal cords to the higher registers on a full-on speed metal opus, and I’m pretty certain she would do a good job out of this stretch. Most likely Julius already had the blueprint for this scantropolis ready, and he thought that a female mayor... sorry, vocalist would do it bigger justice. After all, an innocent not very radical experiment shouldn’t do an irreparable damage to his career. And it didn’t, although the diehard Scanner fans were hardly fascinated by this minimalistic approach, especially when they had no idea whether this would just be a one-off stint, or would lay the foundations for a string of similarly-styled recordings.

The latter scenario never came to pass, thank god, but Julius took another dive into the deep underground after this album’s release, only to emerge revitalized some 13 years later, having left the previous polis, this time sticking with his old guns, the good old power/speed metal riding high on this “Judgement”, a dignified return to the band’s roots. No one’s judging Julius now, he’s doing the expected twist, but even if he sets his mind on constructing another mellower megapolis in the future, he should know that there wouldn’t be too many frowns in the audience, as long as the place has enough room for scanners, metallers and other similar outcasts.

Ball of the Damned had brought the gleam of hope back into the eyes of the Scanner fan, but all too soon, and before you could count the dividends, Axel Julius had once again sent the project back into limbo. Of course, it wasn't the first time Scanner would fall into a 5 year slumber in their career, and seeing that the band had returned in the 90s for both Mental Reservation and Ball of the Damned, one couldn't be so sure if they'd heard the last of them. And they hadn't. For a half-decade after the fires had died, the furnace was stoked yet again, the wells of inspiration teeming with new life, and with yet another, almost completely new lineup, but the same label, Axel Julius would return once more with his circus of melodic, science fiction inspired metal.

Yet again, a massive change in the band's roster would also signify a notable shift in the musical direction, this time towards a broader, powerful rock aesthetic steeped in melody, atmosphere and a noticeably larger sounding production ethic that likely owes itself to the times. Of the Ball of the Damned lineup, only Julius and bassist Marc Simon remained, recruiting new guitarist Florian Haack, drummer Jan Zimmer, and keyboardist Johanes Brunn. But by fire the biggest alteration Axel made here is the hiring of female vocalist Lisa Croft. Yes, the fourth vocalist in five Scanner albums. Considering the relative quality of the band's previous frontmen, it comes as no surprise that Croft is actually quite good here. She's got a strong, if nasally voice that seems to flesh out the music here wonderfully, and quite different than the hordes of fairy, gothic and power metal Nightwish impersonators exploding at the time. So with the new pawns in their place on the chessboard, how does the music hold up?

Well, it remains Scanner, despite its bigger sound and heightened emphasis on the immaculate art of the chorus. You'll still hear tasteful speed metal licks cutting through the scintillating work of the synth player, and Lisa Croft can carry a tune with ease. Unfortunately, the greatest strength of this album is also its one weakness. Some of the chorus parts are so well written that the rest of the music tends to suffer, since it all simply serves to swell up towards those few seconds of aural bliss. This is especially true of the first two tracks. "Till the Ferryman Dies" is all lush, almost orchestral rock which leads through an AOR verse with some electronics and power chords, building to familiar Scanner-speed metal briefly before the beautiful, unforgettable chorus, where Croft leaves orbit for a second to touch the sun. But aside from the thrumming electronics that anchor the verse, the rest of the song borders on mediocrity. Not even the spy like bridge can distract your ears from wanting to hear that chorus again. "Hallowed Be Thy Name", while faster and more closely resonant of the band's past material, functions much the same, with a massive chorus anthem that was probably deserving of pop radio play (love the subtle touch of the guitars below her vocals).

In fact, these first two songs come to such a satisfactory climax, that the rest seem pale by comparison. "Flight of the Eagle" takes on a flourish of prog metal, with a mildly memorable chorus, but is otherwise indistinct. "Turn of the Tide" uses some electronic pulses and sampled horns to provide a very futurist, almost avant-garde feel, interesting to listen to, but not exactly delivering the tear-welling chorus. "Always Alien" is an extremely atmospheric rock piece, with the arrival of metal limited to the solo rhythms. "Engel Brecht's" once again uses the synthesized brass sounds and German lyrics, sounding like some bizarre female Rammstein from off a moon of Jupiter. "Sister Mary" and "Rest in Pain" attempt to capture back the glory of a "Ferryman", and they draw fairly close, with good if not superb choruses. The album also includes a live rendition of "Till the Ferryman Dies", which sounds pretty bright. So, yes, she can also do this live.

As conflicted as I feel about Scanner's shift from an unbridled melodic speed metal force to a modern approximation of female fronted, poppy prog. rock, there is something to this album I enjoy, even now. Perhaps the spacious elements, or the angelic simplicity of Lisa Croft's performance, or the stilted attempts to incorporate all manner of electronica into the rhythms. Its very safe, and its very sleek, but like that latest pop diva playing on the radio, you just find it so difficult to forget. And that, my friends, is legitimate music, whether you wish to admit it to yourself and acknowledge the little square inside you, or live in denial. The riffs could have been better, and a few of the songs suffer a minor identity crisis, but as a simple means of escalating each track to its inevitable, breathtaking conclusion, most of the components of Scantropolis are at least adequate to enjoy with an open mind.

-autothrall
http://www.fromthedustreturned.com

Don't you just love it when you expect to hate something immensely, then end up taking it to the supermarket, to your AA-meetings and to bed? With no faith whatsoever in Scanner having any creative steam left, I was totally prepared to rip this album apart (can't even remember why I bought it in the first place). I despised "Mental reservation", and heard that "Ball of the damned" was more of the same. Expectations nominal.

So where do I begin? Oh yeah, the female vocals. First thing I thought was: "Why is there a woman in the studio when she should be in the kitchen? Are they spiraling even further down the drain now, jumping on the Dutch/Finnish goth wagon?"

Well, they didn't quite do that - as much as they decided to avenge their past transgressions and release another classic! Miss Croft has a nice voice, no doubt. Somewhat unspectacular, and not the greatest English, but pleasant. She's pretty hot too. Lisa, If you're reading this review, consider it a marriage proposal. I'm sick of fast food!

Anyway...

What makes this the same Scanner as the Scanner of old - the first two albums, which I am yet to hear someone dislike - is the strong focus on songwriting. With this I mean tasty riffwork, extraordinarily catchy choruses, and some vocal melodies to die for - all put together as SONGS (as opposed to "riff collections").

As for the "new" Scanner - well, for one thing, forget about speed metal. There's something like one and a half fast song here. The album rarely rises above mid-tempo. I wouldn't exactly call it "power" metal either, but that's because the term has generally negative connotations to me, and the album rules! It's good old heavy metal with atmopsheric aspirations, achieved through an overall fuller production than before. Keyboards are tastefully used to flesh out the soundscape.

They also don't riff constantly here, and this approach works very well with the more atmospheric songwriting. They have realized that they don't have to channel their creative energy through incessant riffing for riffing's sake, but through contrast and counterpoint nicely build up each song to a climactic effect. They know where and when to use the riffs, making the impact of each one greater.

This is of course much unlike "Mental reservation", which had more riffs than anything, but all seemingly thrown together without double-checking if they actually fit together or not.

There's also very little in terms of space travel and robots in the repertoire, though the album cover and packaging might suggest otherwise. Most songs are about general subjects, nothing too interesting. This, together with the rather clumsy English, is a minor downside to this abum, because it sometimes clashes with the solemn nature of the music. They build up to epic choruses good enough to be national anthems, only to deflate them with cheesy lines like "Aaaalways alien! Mother Earth, she's not my mum!". HUH?

The only other thing to hint about Scanner's sci-fi past is the generous use of sound effects throughout. Nothing vulgar though, it all flows well with the music, and the keyboards are mixed back where they belong (yeah, I couldn't resist mentioning Sonata Arctica in this review too - DIE!). As I said earlier, they're used to flesh out the sound, not noodle about in endless masturbation over, under, above and beyond the songs.

The album starts modestly - opening "Till the ferryman dies" pretends to be a hit, but, although pretty good in itself, is actually one of the weakest songs on the album. Then the album switches to kill mode, and we get, not one, not two, not three, not four - but FIVE wonderful tracks in a row! I listed them all below as listening recommendations. The album is just flying at that point, amazing stuff.

"Sister Mary" and "The gambler" are pretty weak, but "R.I.P. - Rest in pain" (gee, that's clever) shifts back into kill mode, and ends the album on a high note. Well, it's not all over there, because included is also as a neat live version of "Till the ferryman dies", with some hilariously fake crowd sounds tacked on (yeah, I'm sure all three people who went to your show made as much noise as Nuremberg 1934!).

Different from the early Scanner albums, but just as good. Highly recommended for fans of melodic metal.

Favourite songs: "Turn of the tide", "Flight of the eagle", "Always alien", "Hallowed be my name", "Engel Brecht's"

Oh, and happy international women's day!

If you've read my previous Scanner reviews, you probably know by now that I've hailed them as one of the greatest German Speed / Power Metal bands of all time, and I still surely believe that. This album however, shows a very different Scanner. When I think of Scanner, musically, this isn't exactly the first thing that comes to mind. Honestly, if you gave a random person two of Scanner's albums, say "Hypertrace" and then this one, without telling them who the band is, I doupt they'd be able to distinguish them as one band, as the same. Instead, they'd probably think they're two seperate bands. This difference is that clear.

This album by all means is not necessarily a bad album, but I don't really think this is really a good direction for Scanner. Gone are the Speed Metal classics, and the aggressive edge they once had. Here they've developed a much more Progressive sound. Because of this, there's tons of diversity within the songs, but this could sometimes be a bad thing. Its overall not as accessible as their earlier albums, and probably something you'd need to listen to a few times over before you can truly appreciate.

I also can't say I really enjoy Lisa Croft's vocals here. Its not that I don't believe in female vocals, but again, she is just another factor to my entire point here. Its different, its definitely not the Scanner you've probably heard about. Occasionally she does a good job at sounding like Scanner's previous singers, but when she tries to get aggressive, I can't help but cringe and grind my teeth at times. Just imagine Scanner's previous vocalists, but with a far more higher pitch, and well yeah ... it just doesn't sound that great.

There seems to be a slight sense of "over-production" here too. The instruments are hardly as raw as they were on all of Scanner's previous releases. And you can expect an overload of instrumental work here too, which is a good thing at times and then a bad thing. Instrumental as in tons of keyboards and weird effects, voice effects, distortions, and whatnot. Either way, they still do a good job at keeping their Sci-Fi touch apparent throughout the album. Their technical skill is still there, and I have to admit some of the bass work on here is mesmerizing.

Maybe in the end, I'm just silly for enjoying bands who stay pretty consistent with themselves. I appreciate the changes, but they're just not for me. Many people enjoy it when bands experiment and try new things, so maybe you'll be able to appreciate more than I have. I just didn't go in expecting something like this. Overall, still a great album, and I'd still recommend Scanner fans check it out to get your own opinion on it. Maybe I'm right, maybe I'm wrong. But hey, that's what reviews are all about ... this just doesn't exactly fit my tastes. Not something I'd listen to a lot, but when I need a Progessive fix, this would be a good choice. Definitely wouldn't recommend this as an entry into the band though.

So, I say go for it and check this album out. See what you think for yourself, maybe you'll dig it more than me, maybe not. Just don't go in expecting anything like old Scanner. Luckily, their newer album in the works sounds like it'll put them back on a more aggressive, speed metal track. I'm crossing my fingers!