Morning Metal – A Scar For The Wicked The Necrobutcher EP Review
One of Ottawa’s most promising death metal bands, A Scar For The Wicked, released their debut EP The Necrobutcher on August 8th when opening for the Knoxville titan, Whitechapel.
The Necrobutcher, which immediately attracted me because… Well, it’s a badass title, reeks death metal. All death metal bands have those catchy and family-friendly titles (yeah, right) and The Necrobutcher stands as one of the coolest, not necessarily most br00tal, album titles from a death metal band.
They could have really screwed with fans and released a folk record. I’d buy it.
TRACK LIST:
1 – Silence Vile Temptress
2 – Within The Rot
3- Surrounded By Giants
4 – The Necrobutcher
5 – The Blood Ritual
While you’re reading this, you can stream it on bandcamp here. It’ll be easy for you to follow along and offer your own thoughts to each track. I’ll get started on a negative note, and thankfully it’s a small detail.
I absolutely hate how the snare drum was mixed on a few songs for this EP. The whole kit sounds huge, but that damn snare is so tinny that it drives me crazy. Regardless, the drumming on this EP is wicked.
Someone get Nick Rodgers a beer!
Track #1 – “Silence Vile Temptress”
It opens with as much brutality as you would expect from a death metal band, and if you’re in the mood to head bang – this track is perfect for you. An excellent example of what the band is capable of, especially the vocal abilities of Eric Forget and Ryan Kenyeres. The highs and lows of these two vocalists sets the bar really high for death metal vocalists in Ottawa. I am not an expert in death metal, but they certainly don’t hold back.
The track is armed with a solo that would make a broom jealous. Much sweeps, such clean.
Track #2 – “Within The Rot”
For some reason when I first heard The Necrobutcher, this is the track I came in on. I am glad I did because it turned out to be my favourite. The structure of this one reminds me of new Suicide Silence so much, especially the ending of the first verse. That breakdown and trade-off between drums and guitar gave me chills. I’m sitting here all “This isn’t bad” and then that pops and boom, straight on the iPod you go.
Again, if it’s one thing Joe Kenyers and Adam Semler are good at – it’s those sweeps.
Track #3 – “Surrounded By Giants”
Awesomely enough, I just finished listening to Where Giants Once Stood. I am assuming this track was meant to be the EP’s lead single due to the fact that the band released a lyric video the following day. The interlude to this track has one of the coolest bass/guitar duos I’ve heard in a long while. Max Moore, Joe and Adam have a field day with this track… You can really tell.
One of those “Whose hand is going to be sore first?” tracks.
Track #4 “The Necrobutcher”
Once again, I have to comment on this title. The title for this track is so damn metal, and the song is even better. A Scar For The Wicked went full out with the title track, with the relentless assault to your ear canal. Listening to this song makes your hands hurt just listening to those beast drums. If the kick drum was replaced with someone’s head, it would explode in the first 10 seconds. Best depiction ever.
Track #5 “The Blood Ritual”
“The Blood Ritual” opens with an anthemic scream laced with some crystal clear chords. The drum fills pounding behind groove nicely before thrashing into the aggression that is A Scar For The Wicked. Listening to this song covers all of what we’ve heard – the melody, the anger and the groove. For a death metal band, it has some great influence from groove metal. While the album has awesome guitar work, the solos for this song stands above the rest.
I rewound the first solo at least 3 or 4 times because it is so clean, clear and under control (ahuehue). Sitting as the longest track on the album, we’re lucky enough to graced with a second solo. You’ll feel some hunger pains due to how tasty this follow-up solo is. It complements the ending very well, ending with some distanced vocals behind a beautifully executed chord progression.
Final Thoughts – I am actually quite upset that I had not heard of this band earlier. Thankfully 457 The Edge had them on for one of their shows and I was introduced to them. It all had great timing, due to The Necrobutcher arriving only a few weeks later. Excellent production quality, superb musicianship and downright heavy material from a band that I have no doubt will continue to impress the local metal scene.
With only a few decent death metal bands in Ottawa, A Scar For The Wicked have come out of nowhere and have demolished everything in their path with this debut. Except for that goddamn snare, which in the end doesn’t even bother me that much on later songs.
I will be interviewing A Scar For The Wicked this Sunday to get some background on the creation of this EP, as well as some other fine details. Stay tuned and watch out for this band.
James Rockso – Host of CKCU 93.1 FM’s Morning Metal