Album Review: Scar Symmetry - The Singularity Phase II - Xenotaph
Reviewed by Liam True
It’s been nine years since the first album of a planned trilogy has dropped, that being The Singularity Trilogy. Now we finally have Part II: Xenotaph. And since it’s been so long without any material for the planned three albums, was it worth the wait? And I can wholeheartedly say absolutely.
You’re thrusted straight into the album with Chrononautilus which packs a punch with Robert Karlsson’s harsh screams echoing through the blast beats of Henrik Olsson on drums and the crunchy guitar assault of Benjamin Ellis and Per Nilsson. Lars Palmqvist’s clean vocals soar over the band on the chorus creating an energetic opener. And when Scorched Quadrant starts it’s a more melodic driven song than the power house of the previous song but still hits a nerve with the dual-vocalists hitting their peaks. The further you delve into the album the more technical and genre bending it gets. As you have some technical guitar craftsmanship on Altergeist and then on Reichsfall they capture their more AOR style akin to Europe in a way as the guitar solo and Palmqvist’s cleans are glorious.
Xenotaph also feels like a guitarists dream album with the fretwork of Nilsson being an underrated guitarist and the work he’s putting into the album from his side being vibrant and deadly precision on the strings. While they’re predominantly melodic death metal to the core they’ve dropped in various genre changed through the album that does keep it fresh throughout without getting stale and repetitive.
The only downside to Xenotaph is the run time. A full 60-minute album is rare to come by and for good reason. Unless you have the chops and songwriting to match it's never a good thing. But Scar Symmetry have done it well, but it’s still a chunk of time. If you’re trying to pick out a good song individually then good luck. Just throw a dart because the entire album is phenomenal from start to finish. Especially the dual album closers Soulscanner & the title track Xenotaph. We waited a while for this album but it was so worth the time spent.
