A while back, Warcrab dropped Scars of Aeons, a 5-track master class in death metal. In a period where we have seen so many high-profile bands release some great (and not so great) albums, it is great to see the lesser known bands not only keeping up but in this case, surpass the releases of those big ones.Scars of Aeons brings some momentous tracks to the fold, opener ‘Conquest’ sitting just shy of 8:30 long. The blend of the triple guitars do what few bands can well, and all with the crushing tone reminiscent of Bolt Thrower, taken further by the militant styling of the bass and drums. Steady this tank travels. ‘Destroyer of Worlds’ goes down just as strong as the title suggests, this song sucks everything in like a black hole, absolute darkness with no regard for anything. ‘In the Shadow of Grief’ leaves behind the doomy pace of the first two and smashes out a destructive masterpiece, which makes ‘Bury Me Before I’m Born’ a relief to the neck returning to the slower crushing speed for some of it. Nothing stands out more though than the 10-minute opus of the self-titled, final track. ‘Scars of Aeons’ is the mother load the whole album has built towards. It rounds off an epic release, one I beg those that are fans of both death metal and in particular Bolt Thrower to seek out, the entire album has me constantly reminded of them, but in no way are they mirroring them.
If it was not for the length of the tracks, I’d be disappointed that it is only a five-song long release, each and every song is of a real high standard, and the writing of the music is matched by the talents of Skyhammer Studio’s Chris Fielding (Conan), he certainly knows how to get the best production together. All in all, this is masterful, and if you are in the market for new music and not tickled by the likes of newly released albums from those huge bands, I full heartedly recommend you get this.
