Review Summary: Yet another quality metal band from Sweden releases one of the genre's better albums for this year.
Progressive melodic death metal. Has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? If images of Dream Theater holding hands with Gothenburg’s finest are floating happily through your conscious, you’re not far off. But it’s more complex than that. You see, barring the band’s Swedish origins, Scar Symmetry aren’t your everyday melodeath band. Sure, the requisite In Flames/At the Gates/Dark Tranquillity comparisons hold true in overall sound, but that’s inescapable (not to mention superficial), and no fault of Scar Symmetry’s.
Where our subjects here separate themselves from rest of their ilk is in actual songwriting; as in, they compose pieces that are possible to tell apart upon even the second listen. Each of the tracks stick to Scar Symmetry’s distinct, yet unique, blend of traditional Swedish melodic death metal, solos straight from John Petrucci’s songbook and a dynamic performance from former frontman Christian Älvestam, who unfortunately quit the band in mid-September.
Consequently, the main contribution to Scar Symmetry’s unique sound is the band’s refusal to hide its countrymen’s influences. Mathy Meshuggah breakdowns lead “Timewave Zero” and “Fear Catalyst” to satisfying conclusions, “Ghost Prototype I – Measurement of Thought” and “Prism and Gate” bear more than a passing resemblance to Arch Enemy’s Amott brothers in riffing style and the lengthy, Opethian title track is the band’s most progressive composition to date. But perhaps the artist with the largest impact on Scar Symmetry’s sound is prog/folk metal master Vintersorg, whose clean baritone delivery and cosmically themed lyrics have made their way into every track on Holographic Universe.
Though Scar Symmetry are a good decade younger than their forefathers and have only released three albums in their five year existence, the now-quartet’s youth allows them to approach their chosen subgenre from a new angle, and makes them the most creative purveyor of the sound in ages.
