The signs indicate that philosophy and dark external forces are a significant factor in this second album by Portuguese band Scarificare. In musical terms, this means black metal with suggestiveness.
For me, the packaging outweighed the product here. “Ab Aeterno” opens the album. Rasped black metal vocals go with a monstrous riff, but while there’s some fire, this is Economy 7, not the burning embers of hell. The modern melodic style pushes it along. The jury was out. The blackened atmosphere remains on “Kybalios” and indeed over the whole album, but there seems to be a lot of posturing. “Postulado” doesn’t mean “posturing” but “postulate” as in hypothesis and assumption. The vocalist seems to be trying too hard to cast fire. There’s a black metal vibe but it’s over exuberant and dramatic. As on the first track, a spoken voice over is supposed to add gravity but seems incongruous in the context of what isn’t bad, but isn’t gripping either. A similar pattern develops as the album progresses. A persistent riff accompanies that blackened death metal. It’s rough at the edges, threatens fire and is expansive but not so much so as to escape dullness.
“You are the master of your own fate” announces the Hindu teacher Sri Swani Sivananda. This again is where I didn’t get the connection o this album, which has philosophical pretensions but musically lacks the grandeur. “Samadhi” clumsily blunders on and runs out of steam when it starts to become uplifting. “Vitruvius” then features another repetitious riff and more growled and gnarled preaching. An atmospheric piano piece breaks it up. The chorus is faintly chant-like. I guess it’s supposed to be mystical but it comes across as leaden. Finally it picks up in force. The riff remains the same but there is power. “From Beast to God” reverts to type. It’s a growly old song with black metal which threatens chaos but delivers blandness. It ends with nothing achieved. Here and there the album rises from its template. “Omega” has interest value with its searching drum and guitar line but the familiar pattern returns. The riff doesn’t alter much and the spoken section reeks of platitudes. And then this over long track at six and a half minutes seems to go on for ever. Finally mystical tones sweep through “Gnosis” in the form of chanting, but this needs more than chanting. This needs substance in the music to support the atmosphere.
“Postulado” is along the lines of Vedic metal but this album is so disjointed that it makes for uncomfortable listening. Both the musical output and the spoken sections lack overpowering energy. Whatever inspiration there should have been is lost in the mix. I found myself listening with indifference.
(4/10 Andrew Doherty)
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