Through Eternity

I had never heard of S.C.A.L.P. before, and seeing as how I received two albums at the same time I initially decided to listen to this one first since it’s a re-release of their 1997 debut album. And for a band that’s been around since the early 90ies they sure haven’t released a whole lot of albums; only three of them. But as I said this was the first of them, and it contains some very confusing material. They truly mix and match almost every possible subgenre of metal one could think of, which gives me the impression they didn’t have a set style they wanted to play back then; but just wanted to play metal. Nevertheless it certainly sounds coherent enough to come together as a whole, and I can say, without a doubt in my mind, this is a sound I’ve only heard from one band, and that’s S.C.A.L.P..

This is so damn weird, and I don’t know whether to love it for its originality or condone it for being so freakin’ weird. But at the same time it somehow makes sense. One moment it’s very atmospheric doom metal but with riffing deeply imbedded in heavy metal, but with a sense of thrash. Vocally it at times remind me of folk and viking metal with that raspy, yet clean voice, but also with the vocal patterns. A track like "Silentium" sends out a very strong doom/death vibe, and for some reason my mind goes towards Tiamat in their earlier period, but with a lot more melody and sans growls. Don’t know if the comparison makes any sense, but it’s still what I came to think of.

Three of the tracks are instrumental, and as accomplished as the melody and beautifulness of "The fate will never repeat" is I don’t find it all that interesting (over six minutes of instrumentalism is too rich for me). But when it comes to the remainder of the tracks, instrumental or not, it has a valid place on the album. The mellowness of "Who dared to say" is a good way to contradict the aggression of "Till the clouds fly". It’s like mixing early Katatonia and Candlemass with loads of heavy metal and a dose of thrash metal. It’s far from what I’d normally listen to, but they really have accomplished a sound that works, and for that I have to commend them. It’s great to hear such a hidden gem of the past come to life, and the atmosphere of the album just reeks of genuine love of playing metal. It’s atmospheric, haunting, melodic, melancholic, aggressive and highly versatile, and the production is excellent.

Originally written for http://www.mylastchapter.net