Pick Your Rock and Metal

Saturday, June 15, 2013

Scything through metal - Scimitar declare war

KICK starting your recording career is not the easiest for any band, especially a relatively young set of individuals, but Scimitar have launched their thrash attack with a scything six-track ep under the title of Act of War.

Intelligent, if opaque, lyrics and more riffs than you can shake a stick at, Scimitar may still be raw, but have managed to capture an energy many mainstream acts only achieve after a few albums.

The rawness is evident in a few of the tracks, but is more due to eagerness than any lacking.

Beaten to Death is an example of a good song to bang your heads along to but with just a few refinements could have been a great track - some more gigging will iron it out.

In contrast the track Scimitar is a finely honed thrash class, with more measured application of riffage and snappy solos from John Thompson and is powered along by the combo of Ryan Atkin's drums and Chriz Baird's bass there is the for Jonny Gray to let loose his vocals.

Erased from Existence is, in contrast, a straight down the line thrash track, kicking along with an echo of Gama Bomb and Exodus - frenetic yet measured when it needs to be.

Overall Act of War shows a band who can deliver when it comes to the heavier end of thrash. Some of the flaws, like a little more vocal variety and guitar tones will come: however, we will be keeping an eye on Scimitar's development.

War has been declared and this is thrashing with a scimitar's curved blade swinging through doubters that yet another Northern Ireland act can cut it in the studio.

No comments: