Brutiful_ViXn
Reign In Metal
Zodiac :  Metal Reputation : 88
Join date : 2012-01-05
Location : Vacationing in Hell
 | |  Symbolic -Scarvest (2013 Re-Release) Album Review | |
Symbolic -Scarvest (2013 Re-Release)
Twin Peak Records -- Running Time 42:59
'Melodic Death Metal'! When you see it written down it always looks weird. Melodic and Death are two words that really shouldn't work musically, but there have been plenty of bands over the years who have made it so. When you look back 'At The Gates', 'In Flames' and 'Dark Tranquility' probably stand out most as being pioneers of the sound but of the later bands you'll know from regular mentions that my out and out favourite 'Melodeath' band are 'Scar Symmetry'!
Now signed to Twin Peak Records, German band Symbolic are having their sophomore album from 2011 'Scarvest' re-released and a new album is being prepared for next year. Quite why this needs to be released again so soon is anybody's guess and after listening to it a few times that decision becomes even more unusual because Symbolic have got a long way to go before they come close to giving me the feeling that Scar Symmetry do!
This is all musically pretty good, especially the guitar work of 'Andreas Schiegl' and 'Josef Hiltmann' (although neither of them are 'Per Nilsson'), but the songs don't come across as particularly unique, in fact they've all been heard before to a greater or lesser extent. There are occasions when 'Scarvest' almost starts slipping into early Metalcore and the Gothenburg sound is a huge influence! Of course, you could say that nothing is original these days, and if that's your opinion then you'll almost certainly like this a lot. Where I really feel let down though is in the vocal department. 'Bastian Löser (a bit of an unfortunate name) tries to be a little different in that he uses a very deep roaring, harsh vocal, unfortunately to me he just sounds like he's gargling vomit through a computer which pretty much spoils the album completely. I really am not a fan of this type of delivery! 'Tobias Schill's' drums also sound incredibly triggered and computerised, especially in the bass drum department. I know these guys are talented but I like my drums to sound real and if this sound was given to me and my drum kit in the studio I would ask for a refund. It doesn't really interest me whether you can hit 32 bass drum beats every second in perfect time. I'm not singling out Symbolic or Tobias, but it's a pet annoyance that I have about many modern drummers! Let's keep it a bit more real please!
Reading this back I am coming across as a little harsh and I apologise for that, this is certainly not the worst melodeath album I've heard, but it's far from the best. Perhaps my expectations were set too high before I pressed play, either way Symbolic have a lot of work to do before I'm convinced that they'll be contenders within this genre!
http://www.symbolic-music.de/
https://www.facebook.com/symbolicger
https://www.facebook.com/twinpeakrecords
Review written exclusively for Brutiful Entertainment by Rick Tilley
www.facebook.com/richard.tilley.351
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