SCARVE - The Undercurrent
June 13, 2007, 17 years ago
(Listenable)
French soundscapers Scarve borrow equally from Fear Factory-derived industrial thrash sonics and avant garde progressive black metal, the former providing the platform, the latter providing the angled Borknagar melodies and the vocal oscillation between growls and clean singing down a Dimmu path. And the whole thing is beaten into a mash by some of the most panoramic drum grooves this side of Mnemic-pandemic Meshuggah. The steely Strapping feel might derive from the fact that Daniel Bergstrand produces, but much of the credit must also go to a brave distinction of dense architecture derived from fully 14 years of toil. This is a headphone album that just might be too fatiguing too loud, but an impressive clinic stuffed full of events at some applied sane volume. My 7… damn, call it my contribution to the feeling that this field is crowded, and really, that’s not the fault of any one band in it.
