Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress

[Liu]

Scar Symmetry - Pitch Black Progress
Nuclear Blast

Scar Symmetry can be called a "supergroup" of sorts, whose members are a who's-who of notable names in the death metal field. Carnal Forge, Centinex, Theory In Practice and Unmoored are a few bands that these guys have been involved with. Their 2005 debut album, Symmetric In Design, turned a few heads with their take on the melodic death metal sound. As good as that album was, this year's follow-up, Pitch Black Progress, blows its predecessor (and most of their contemporaries) out of the water. Scratch that, out of the atmosphere.

Most have compared Scar Symmetry to the likes of In Flames and Soilwork. Its easy to make these claims on initial listens, but after 10-15 plays such comparisons become blurred. The Soilwork comparison is justified however, the tone and delivery of Christian Älvestam's clean vocals sound very much like that of Speed Strid. The one thing I've noticed about the majority of melodic death metal bands that utilize the dual death/clean vocal is that if you take out the melodic clean vocal parts, you're left with a very underdeveloped death metal sound. This is where Scar Symmetry stand apart from the rest of the pack. If you take away all the clean parts, they can still rip off your head with their barrage of fierce riffs. The energy displayed on Pitch Black Progress is well beyond what most other bands of their ilk are seemingly capable of.

There are too many highlights on this album to mention them all. There isn't a single weak moment on Pitch Black Progress, it kicks your ass from the very beginning and doesn't let you catch your breath before the next song comes along and knocks you back down all over again. I love the use of a well executed chorus, and Scar Symmetry have this down to a science. Every song is memorable in its way, the songs don't feel like they are reusing the same formula over and over again. A few of the high points include Mind Machine (excellent melodic chorus that rivals the best that Soilwork have come up with), the transition between the all death vocal title track into the Morbid Angel insanity intro of Calculate The Apocalypse, and the solo of The Kaleidoscopic God that begins with virtuoso shredding then develops into a Dream Theater progtastic climax.

I should mention that most bands out there often taken for granted the impact of a well-crafted guitar solo, but thankfully Scar Symmetry don't fall into that trap. Each solo sounds vibrant and refreshing, hitting all the right notes and the album only benefits. Both Jonas Kjellgren and Per Nilsson must be commended for their stellar work here. The band even saved the very best solo for last, left reserved for the last minute or so of The Path Of Least Resistance. Even though its probably the shortest of them all, it blazes away like a bat out of hell and feels like one last sucker punch before the album ends.

Before I give Pitch Black Progress its well deserved perfect score, I must remind you all as to how rare these are. The last time I came across one was two years ago (Disillusion's Back To Times Of Splendor, if you must know). With a cd collection containing 1100+ titles, there are only about 25 I'd give the coveted score to. And I toyed around with giving this a 9/10, but the more I played Pitch Black Progress, the more I knew that such a score would be a disservice for something this spectacular. So, the next time you're out buying cd's, put down that copy of Come Clarity and go look in the S section. Ignore that Soilwork cd, the one just before it is the one you'll want.


01. The Illusionist
02. Slaves To The Subliminal
03. Mind Machine
04. Pitch Black Progress
05. Calculate The Apocalypse
06. Dreaming 24/7
07. Abstracted
08. The Kaleidoscopic God
09. Retaliator
10. Oscillation Point
11. The Path Of Least Resistance

Score: 10/10

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An addendum to the original review:

Today I went ahead and bought a copy of Pitch Black Progress. Yea, I already had the promo, but Nuclear Blast has adopted that annoying policy of dividing the songs on their promos into the 99 available tracks on a cd. Earache has been pulling this nonsense for years. Anyway, its a pain in the ass if I wanna hear Mind Machine, I'd have to skip to track 18. But the album was good enough to actually give Nuclear Blast some money for, so I did. Anyway, for my troubles, I was graced with two bonus tracks not found on the promo.

The first is a mid-paced song titled Carved In Stone. Had this been on the actual album and not reserved as a bonus track, the score could have been knocked down to a 9/10. Its not very interesting. Good use of synth in the beginning but the song doesn't really go anywhere. Deviate From The Form is the other bonus track, and it makes up for the former's shortcomings in a big way. Its just as solid as the songs that make up the original tracklisting and offers some new things not found on the album. The band opts for a very groovey sounding synth for the verses, its a nice touch and adds to the overall feel. The song's chorus is even better than some of the other songs I've been salivating over, which is quite a feat. An extended jammy outro solo concludes things on a very high note. Since these are just bonus tracks, they won't affect the original score.