I caught Scarab playing the Sophie stage at Bloodstock Open Air Festival in 2013 and they were one of the unknown bands to me that definitely turned out as one of the big surprises of the festival. They were like Indian group Demonic Resurrection before them, all the more welcome as they were not a group playing on that particular stage that we see all the time in London but one that had come from somewhere much further afield, namely Egypt. You probably worked that out by the band and album name though and these are no pretenders to the Nile but the real deal. Those of you that keep an eye on music from that region and like your metal deathly are no doubt already immersing yourselves in the excellent new Melechesh opus Enki which has come out a week before this. If you have room for something similar though this will be akin to waiting for a bus, you stand there for ages and then two come along at once.
Starting off as Hate Suffocation before changing their name for the better, Scarab released debut album ‘Blinding The Masses’ way back in 2009 so this has been a long time coming. We start off by ‘Calling Forth The Ancient Spirits Of Kemet’ in the form of an atmospheric, mood setting intro full of the mysteries and ethnicity of the group’s homeland before the 55 minute album unfolds with eight hefty tracks of spiritually enhanced death metal. ‘Visions Of The Blood River’ sees the drums taking up an atypical triggered bombast that pretty much flurries away throughout the album creating a hefty backbone from start to finish. Vocalist Sammy Sayed has a gruff and growly delivery and along with the snappy and burgeoning chops this track sticks out and pummels away with some great bombastic grooves that make you want to head-bang along and air riff away with them. It’s kind of odd saying that it’s nothing that you have not heard before considering the origins of where this lot are coming from and I feel almost guilty saying so. That’s not to say that it isn’t enjoyable though and it bristles and seethes away at a cracking pace with plenty of melodicism about it. It’s not all one speed either and the band are happy to slow things a bit and groove along; tracks are allowed plenty of time to breathe, solos are uncoiled and this one in particular lasts over the nine minute mark.
Although not completely overpowering the moods and traditional sounds of Egypt are entwined within the music and add an exoticism to the belligerent and at times brooding mainframe of it all. Naturally you can always go into the lyrical content for further enlightenment, thankfully they and the song titles are not quite as convoluted as certain others playing a similar style. The title track chugs and menaces in a more compact fashion with the melody invading your headspace like a snake and sinuously slithering around in there. There is a certain rawness to the production of the album and it has heavy bass tones suitably grabbing hold and shaking you around. Beneath it all there are subtle things to listen out for such as in this one a bit of underlying female choral work.
I’ve pretty much said all that needs to be said here and this is an album that will definitely appeal to those that like death metal with plenty of atmosphere as well as scholars of ancient Egyptology. Peel off the layers and unravel it like a mummy to find out just what else is under the bandages yourself.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
Leave a Reply