Scour - Gold

Scour has been rather hyped in the last few years with their EPs, mostly because it is a supergroup helmed by Phil Anselmo of Pantera fame, but also because for once it doesn’t feel like a rehash of any of the members’ involved projects. A furious U.S. assault of Black Metal that leans more towards the Swedish side of things than U.S., Scour’s first full length “Gold” is blistering with very little frills in the vein of heavier/ faster Marduk or Dark Funeral, making the record a focus of guitars and vocals that are about as hellish as the lyrics and song titles that come along with it. Some have said Phil sounds old and tired perhaps due to the last Illegals album, but with Scour he sounds refreshed, ferocious, and surprisingly good at a Black/ Death Metal vocal delivery. Alongside fellow Illegals member Derek Engemann on guitar, Misery Index members Mark Kloeppel also on guitars and Adam Jarvis on drums with John Jarvis from Agoraphobic Nosebleed on bass, the lineup is stacked, well versed, and ready to shred ears.

Those expecting something along the lines of Down or somewhat of a return of Superjoint will be disappointed. While some of the tracks have rhythm and groove and stomp like some of those projects, right from the opening ‘Cross’ the album cuts to the point. Riffs and blastbeats hammer down the nail as Phil and Co. delivery venomous, yet discernible vocals of vitriol. The production is crisp but not overdone- again it sounds a lot like a well done Marduk piece. While the bass is a bit lost in the fury as this track does kick ass, the direction definitely shows Scour wanting to deliver a somewhat minimalistic performance without the U.S. Black Metal focus of rawness and haze like Judas Iscariot or atmosphere and wonder like Uada. Driving riffs and vocals backed by drums is what listeners will get here. Death Metal elements come into play with more groove and rhythm on a track like ‘Infusorium’ which also show Phil’s bellows and also another burning question why he hasn’t shown this side before. It is strong, good, and been kept in the dark too long.

Some En Minor influences creep in as the album is broken up by some interludes lending to some Akercocke creepiness such as the lulling ‘Ornaments’ or the faint spoken words on ‘Angels.’ These are far and few between though as right after Scour gets right back to shredding. The guitar work from both Derek and Mark play well off each other when considering a anthemic scorcher like ‘Invoke’ which is the ultimate typical Black Metal fans’ chant and also embraces the more stereotypical approach to the genre, much like a piece by Gorgoroth, but it still plays out well. The pulsing drums on the title track drive the point home from Adam and do their best to keep up with the guitars and vocals, but overall it is clear that despite some pretty strong moments behind the kit, the vocals and guitars are the heroes of the album. Rather than feel monotonous like some of the riffs when they are hitting a blinding speed, the drums always stay varied switching between machine gun fire pace and a mid paced hammering, but never quite reaching that dramatic percussive thunder.

Overall along with the somewhat minimalistic approach, the tracks do tend to stick to the same formula of being fast, letting the vocals bring the most variation between the snarls and growls with some groove here and there, but aside from the instrumentals there are no real slow or atmospheric moments to break up the album. Avoiding the Folk Black Metal trope of going fast, slow, then fast, “Gold” pretty much fires on all cylinders for 37 minutes with little room for error or hiccups. While some might skip over the interludes because they are so opposite to what Scour mainly delivers, fans of all the Black Metal subgenres will enjoy this on every blasphemous level. The blasphemy is mostly in the titles without being too blatant about it on most of the lyrics, but also not so obscure and head scratching as Deathspell Omega might be. Scour is direct, harsh, and a strong milestone in all the members’ involved career. If one is really a big Marduk fan, they’ll enjoy this a lot! May the next album be “Platinum.”

4 / 5 STARS