Tuesday, June 7, 2016

Scythia "Lineage" Review



                Hey Canada and everywhere else around the world, did the disbandment of 3 Inches of Blood make you unhappy? Do you need that Power and Death metal mix that they brought? Well, let me introduce you to your new favourite band, Scythia and don’t worry, “Lineage” is their 4th album so you have plenty to catch up on here. Having an epic Power Metal sound that rivals bands like Tyr and Korpiklaani and mixing in the crushing Death Metal growls that will bring you to your knees.

                The opening tracks start off strong with “Eternal Oath” which will get you ready for the amazing sound this band has and “Laugh of the Tsar”, featuring a more personal sound most likely unlike any band you’ve heard before. Slowing down immensely, you enter “Soldier’s Lament” and you can already hear the intensity of the lyrics, this is probably my favourite track to be featured on this album. The pacing of this song is slow and filled with emotion, primarily focusing on the Power Metal sound and almost entering ballad territory, this song tells the story of a knight of the crusades back in the day, travelling from place to place to kill in the name of the god and the struggle the character faces beginning to question if he’s just being used.

                The next couple tracks go hand in hand, “Loremaster pt. 1” and “Loremaster pt. 2”, the former beginning very slow and purely acoustic. Before long the instrumentals kick in and the speed gets upped instantly, with in incredibly cool riff that sounds like something Rhapsody would have come up with. The chorus features nice contrast, with the clean higher vocals singing “I am the Loremaster” while growls can be heard in the background, there’s another section where the clean vocals are almost cut off by the growls as they continue to finish out the verse. I found this portion interesting because the first time through it sounded like an editing screw up, but after a couple more listens it’s clearly intentional and creates a crazy aggressive mood. In the last couple minutes of part one comes a guitar solo and man is it an epic guitar solo, beginning with the idea of “how fast can I play?” as the song creeps to a close the solo gains more soul and becomes more emotional before blending back into a riff that can match the slower saddened vocals. Part two of this song blends in perfectly, but I won’t ruin it for you, it’s something you’ll need to check out yourself.


                I know I related this to 3 Inches of Blood at the beginning, and when it comes to style, it is true that they are somewhat similar, but this is a band with their own identity entirely as well. If you like stories, epic Power Metal, crushing Death Metal and you think music should have the ability to play with your emotion, “Lineage” is an album you should be buying right this second. If you don’t like music with lyrical content, personal style, emotion and that create their own atmosphere as you listen to it, maybe you should skip this and stop listening to music entirely. “Lineage”, the new album from Scythia is a masterpiece in the way it’s written and performed, from cover to cover, there was no part of this album that didn’t peak my interest, so you should check it out, pick it up and play it loud!

95/100

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