Scars of Chaos - Humanitarian War Machine (2007)

This is a very interesting album. Scars of Chaos is a French symphonic black metal band. Now, as it should be pretty clear at this point, black metal in general doesn't interest me to a rather high degree. This, however, is rather refreshing, for whatever reason.

I believe this is Scars of Chaos' fourth third studio album. I haven't bothered to check out the others, but if they're at all like this one, I may just do that. Think of Vesperian Sorrow with heavier symphonic influences and you have Scars of Chaos. The vocals are very similar, as well as the instrumentation. I have to admit, though, I was a bit hesitant when I first looked at the name of this band. Generally, bands with the word "scar" in the name can be immediately dubbed as crap and mocked accordingly. (See: Scar Symmetry). Also, with such heinously moronic pseudonyms as DarkOne and Evil Tongue, I wasn't all that ready for anything impressive, but rather for some sickening Cradle of Filth bastardization.

I was certainly surprised. What I got was something like Stormblåst era Dimmu Borgir. You know, before they started writing songs that sucked? You remember that, don't you? Anyway, this is very much in that vein. The guitar parts are dominated by the ever-typical black metal tremolo picking style, but it's done enjoyably. I think the most drawing part of this album would probably be the symphonic aspects, which are complimented by the vocals, though. Bear with me, here. I'm going to have to use the band members' incredibly stupid pseudonyms, because I can't seem to find their real names.

A New Era of Light starts off with a keyboard generated symphonic line, which immediately transitions into a hugely chaotic assault of sound. Evil Tongue's retarded name does his vocals no justice. He seems to have mastered the black metal sound. He goes from high pitched screeches quickly to low, guttural grunts at the correct times; a feat largely unexplored in most forms of black metal, even by its supposed pioneers. This man has talent. His vocals certainly add an extra feel of power to the songs.

As stated before, the keyboard work on this album is very well done. Angelus, as he wishes to be called, creates a very dark atmosphere with his orchestrations, which I believe is the feel they were going for. The most notable pieces on the album would be the introduction to A New Era of Light, the interlude in Funeral For a World, and the introduction to Darker Than Hell. However, the keyboards are omnipresent throughout the entire album, constantly creating a moody contrast to the otherwise chaotic guitar parts.

This album is just very well put together. They manage to make their slower introductions tasteful and maintain their raw and ferocious black metal edge. For my favorite song, I would pick Son Excellence de la Douleur. It most accurately depicts the pure range of sound that this album has to offer. Quality symphonic black metal from an unexpected source. One thing, though. Scars of Chaos, change your fucking names. You look like idiots.

8/10

You'll notice that I'm going to now rate albums on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being the highest, 1 being the lowest. That way you'll actually know what I think of things, rather than simply attempting to guess from my vague and confusing reviews.

Turisas - The Varangian Way (2007)

Finland won't relent. They have the folk metal genre completely dominated. Turisas has been around since roughly 1997, but have only released two albums, Battle Metal and The Varangian Way. The Varangian Way is their newest and, in my humble opinion, finest album.

People seem to have that "I hate new music" complex with Turisas. Battle Metal receives far too much praise, honestly. It's undoubtedly a fine album, but it's production quality is incredibly lacking, and production is critical in this sort of music. One honestly cannot create a feel of epic battle with a cheap keyboard and lacking guitar power. That all changed.

The Varangian Way is refreshing. The guitars are crisp, the keyboards are excellent, and I feel as if they're putting far more thought into their songs. Granted, there's not much difference in the tracks on this album, but they're creative, nonetheless. An example of said creativity would be best shown in the case of In The Court Of Jarisleif. The song is just brilliant. Incredibly folky and fun. In The Court Of Jarisleif is one of the most intelligent folk metal songs I've ever heard. That's saying something, too. Because folk metal is a pretty stupid genre. When you're listening to it, you feel as if you're right in the middle of some sort of brawl.

As for my two favorite songs aside from In The Court Of Jarisleif, I'd say and The Dnieper Rapids and Miklagard Overture stand out the most. The former is just really fun to listen to. At times, it gets a little bit tedious, but it quickly picks up. The settings chorus sections immediately exonerate the band for any boring fillers they have. Excellent. The latter is the relative epic of the album. In terms of folk metal, its 8:18 length is rather lacking, but it, again, makes up for this in sheer rockage. Mathias Nygård shows that he's not just a yelling idiot like so many of his contemporaries. Amazingly enough, he can actually sing. Incredible!

All in all, this is a moderately solid release. Turisas is a great folk metal band, but the genre is quickly stagnating. The bands are running out of Norse mythology to sing about and the well of catchy, melodic keyboard lines is running dry. Because of this, nothing that Turisas will ever do will ever be all too outstanding, but rather very solid in the scheme of folk metal. I'd recommend The Varangian Way, regardless, because it is very fun.

7.5/10

Circus Maximus - Isolate (2007)

I was waiting for something to force me to actually write in this again, and here it is. Circus Maximus is back with their second album entitled Isolate to follow up their acclaimed first release The 1st Chapter. I'm going to explain just what it is that Circus Maximus is all about.

This band isn't reinventing progressive metal. In fact, they're really not bringing anything new to the table, at all. What they do do, however, is take the best aspects of already established, talented bands and combine them into a tweaked, refined version of their own. If Symphony X and Dream Theater were to combine sounds, you'd get Circus Maximus. And, in that sense, they're breathing life into a genre full of ever-expanding crap.

Technical music is becoming incredibly popular. Because of that, tons of bands are emulating Necrophagist in a never-ending quest for record sales. It seems as though Circus Maximus may have stumbled onto the secret of creating progressive metal without the aid of overzealous, pointless guitar masturbation.

Surprisingly enough, I never wrote a review about this band's first release, The 1st Chapter. Long story short, it's brilliant. It may be the best debut album of any band I've ever heard, save Savage Circus' Dreamland Manor. It has reached critical acclaim amongst the progressive metal community since its release in 2005. With vocals borrowed from bands like Rush, and instrumentals borrowed from bands like Kamelot, Symphony X, and Dream Theater, Circus Maximus continues to impress with Isolate, a feat many thought would be impossible.

Upon initial listening, I was not all that impressed with this album. It wasn't bad, sure, but it didn't have the hooking power of the first release. Then, as I listened to it a bit more, something seemed to have clicked. It was at this point that I recalled my first listening to The 1st Chapter. I had written off the band as another struggling, copycat progressive band. Only after having listened to the album several times did I begin to see it for what it was. Sure enough, Isolate seems to follow the same trend.

During the recording of this new album, the band's keyboardist, Espen Storø, left the band to be replaced shortly after by Lasse Finbråten. One wouldn't be able to tell the difference, had they not known about the change. I applaud Circus Maximus on an excellent choice of a new keyboardist. With that said, I'll divulge some information on a few of the tracks off the album.

The album starts off with A Darkened Mind, which is follows a rather typical progressive formula of a few bridges and choruses that break into a keyboard/guitar interlude which then comes back into another chorus. But, in its predictability, however, A Darkened Mind manages to start the listener off quite well. The chorus is catchy and fun, which offers interesting transition into Abyss.

I'm not going to lie and say Abyss' lyrics aren't totally gay, because they are. Obviously, there are very dark undertones to this song, but I feel as if they may have gone a little overboard with the references to slashed wrists and leaping into some sort of abyss. The thing about this song is that, if you're not listening to the lyrics, you wouldn't be able to tell that it's got darker themes to it. Michael Eriksen's high pitched falsettos make it very hard to envision what they're attempting to communicate, but if you listen, you won't miss it. Anywho, this song is rather awesome, lame vocals aside. The guitar work about 3/4 in is flawless. I very much enjoy it.

Wither seems to be the most popular of the album, which perplexes me. It's the song they released on their Myspace before the album actually came out. As I stated, this is strange, as I feel Wither is probably the weakest song on the album. It's understandable, though, because it's the most radio friendly. I have nothing else to say. Rather weak song, obviously driven by the desire to reach a new audience.

Sane To More is spectacular. Much like Biosfear, off The 1st Chapter, it's completely instrumental and full of epically progressive goodness. I've listened to this song far too many times. It really showcases the new keyboardists obvious talents. Very, very good.

In the interest of keeping this review enjoyable and not tedious, I'll cut it at that. There are 5 more songs on the album, and each of them is very impressive.

My criticism is as follows. Isolate is vocally and instrumentally identical to The 1st Chapter. There is no new ground covered. Whether this is good or not is up to the listener, but I feel as though they could have shifted a bit. Hell, at least Adagio has been experimenting with heavier vocals. It's not really all that bad, because they have a style that rocks and they're good at reproducing it while keeping it fresh. I'm looking forward to their evolving a bit with their next release, though.

All in all, very impressive album. I'll be sure to purchase it when it comes out some time in August.

9.5/10