Momentum Shift

Scariot have kept a broad blueprint to follow, riff-heavy melodic metal, and made room to mix things up a bit within that area. It’s more likely that the stylistic differences in their catalog are a reflection of the lineup changes than any premeditated intent. When Steffan Schultze was in the band, it leaned towards a melo-death feel, while his replacement by Oddlief Stensland made things thrashier. Still, variety’s not a bad thing by any means.

So, what have Scariot been up to? Well, Stensland and Tor Atle Andersen left to form Communic, and founding member Daniel Olaisen hired a couple of guys by the names of Øyvind Hægeland and Asgeir Mickelson to replace them. Now these guys have a few bands to their credit, but are probably most notable for being in Spiral Architect and making the awesomely bizarre A Sceptic’s Universe, which manages to furrow brows in bewilderment even today. And if that weren’t enough, bass legend Steve DiGiorgio was drafted as well. So far, close enough to an all-star team to get kicked about.

So, they sound different now. Surprise! Hægeland’s style of clean singing and dissonant harmonies bring a new dimension to what is essentially the same breed of music. It’s debatable whether this is better – at times, you can’t help wishing for a bit more bite, but there’s still plenty of interesting dynamics formed here, thanks in a big way to the generous John Arch influence. The newfound harmonies make for some memorable choruses too – I have a boner for Sickening World and Noble Quest in that department.

As for the instrumental section, there’s still plenty of catchy riffs running around, and some great progressions where they seem to be leading one way and then just switch track so suddenly and smoothly that if you’re not paying attention, you find yourself speeding off a cliff-edge, saying “Where the hell did the road go?!” Free fall - great way to go out, though.

DiGiorgio does a hell of a job holding this up at the bottom end (like you were expecting any less) and the bass is thankfully pushed up in the mix to let you know just that. Mickelson is also pretty tight on the drums, and his bizarro tendencies only come out once in a while, with some weird broken rolls – which sound pretty cool after a while.

Now, on to the juicy part. As some of you may have heard, a nearly full-strength Spiral Architect re-unite to cover the Death song, Symbolic. I can imagine a whole bunch of purists getting worked up about the sacrilege of constructing vocal lines over Schuldiner’s growls, and I also imagine that I might be in a minority when I say that I think they’ve done a pretty good job with it. Hey, if you can do death metal covers of Them Bones (thanks, Grave) and Black Night (yeah you, Deicide), turnabout is fair play.

So, interesting output from a very talented bunch of fellows, and a solid album overall. Thumbs up; check it out.

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Scariot is another one of those Norwegian progressive metal bands that pop out of that country these days like baby rabbits out of a mother in the most sickly sweet spring meadow there ever was. There are obvious similarities to the heavier bands of the style such as Nevermore and Communic, although this album is definitely not a clone or a copy or anything of the sort. Scariot play a thrashier variety of the normal prog sound, although I wouldn't go into this expecting Slayer or Overkill, and the vocalist on here reminds me of what would happen if you took away John Arch's mystical falsetto and left him with a more midranged style of singing. He's not bad, but the band would benefit from a more aggressive, distinctive vocalist. The guitar tone here is polished, yet not devoid of heaviness or crunch, which makes for a thoroughly headbangable record. The solos are extremely delightful, ripping across space and time with class and never drawing attention to themselves over the riffs; just there if you want to get into them, and never wanky or overdone. This band doesn't forget the METAL part of their progressive metal label, which is extremely refreshing.

Standout tracks here are pretty hard to name, as every song here is around the same length, and they're all jam packed with thrashy riffs and towering, complex song structures that will never allow them to get boring or bland. "Redesign Fear" starts things off in fine fashion, blazing a trail of progressive metal mastery and heavy, headbanging riffs that sets the mood for the rest of the album. After that, Scariot don't try to deviate from their already set in stone formula, just delivering killer cuts like "Sickening World," "Noble Quest," and the massive, evil groove of "Slaves," which just rules on every level. Oh, and there's a cover of Death's "Symbolic" here, too - well done, although I can't compare it to the original, as I haven't yet heard it. Lyrically, Scariot obviously aren't the happiest campers, as these are all typically dark and pessimistic (but well written) progressive metal lyrics. Good stuff, for the most part.

If you've already tried Communic and Pagan's Mind and Nevermore, then go ahead and give this a shot. It's better than Nevermore by quite a lot, and it's definitely not derivative or boring at all during it's 50 minutes of runtime. Recommended.

Originally written for http://www.metalcrypt.com

I must admit the main reason why I got this album was because of Aesgir Mickelson’s drumming, since I am a big fan of his work (especially in Borknagar), but I was really surprised by how this new lineup improved their music and lead them towards their own sound, finally they show some personality.

Let me first make clear that I liked “Strange to Numbers”, the work they released just before “Momentum Shift”, but it lacked something, it just wasn’t very remarkable. Also, it still sounded alike Nevermore (though not as alike as Communic sounds). This new album solves both these issues, and figures as their best effort so far.

In regards of the lineup, the highlights are the drums and the bass, featuring Aesgir Mickelson and Steve DiGiorgio. These guys had worked together before on Vintersorg’s “The Focusing Blur”, and they sounded really great on that album (Vintersorg’s best one IMHO), and they managed to do it again in Scariot. The guitars are good too, with some catchy and heavy riffs (like the ones on Sickening World and on The Universal), sometimes being really great. The weakest point of the band are the vocals, which are not bad by any means, but they take a while to get used to. After hearing this record some times I got used to them and it blended with the rest of the music, but first time I heard it I found kinda strange.

Their sound is a big mix of many metal styles. There are many times when it is clear their thrash vein, but they never sound like regular thrash metal. It is also easy to notice some death metal influences, and, especially the drumming, shows some prog metal too. It is really difficult to classify them, just as it is regarding Nevermore (though, as I said before, now they have their own sound, not just sounding like Nevermore anymore), but this album presents us with a mix of extreme and progressive metal, in the end being not extreme and not displaying musical wankery.

All in all, Scariot managed to achieve their own sound and made a really powerful record, full of great riffs and with one of the best drummers out there in action. If they manage to keep this lineup and carry on their work on this direction they will finally be able to be remembered by their own merits. Definitely a great album that will probably become an underground classic.

Highlights: Redesign Fear, Sickening World and The Universal