Scarred – Haunting Memories (2010)

Next up we have Scarred and their Power Metal music with “Haunting Memories”, their latest EP. Hailing from the USA the band does a great job at incorporating influences from Metal Church and even the all-mighty Savatage into their sound. The album features 24 minutes of nicely composed songs that sound fresh compared to what most Power Metal bands are doing these days.

Without exploiting the ‘let’s play as fast as we can’ approach, the band creates solid songs that feature ‘slower’ but crushing riffs. Sometimes they even sound a bit like Doom/Stoner Metal bands, and we totally dig this different approach to a genre that is full of virtuosos showing off.

All the guitar riffs are very crunchy and well developed, but there is also place for brutal solos and fast paced sections. We enjoy the ‘doomy’ structure that tracks like “Worms Of The Universe” have. The vocals provided by Eric Claro are very well weaved into the music melodies, and they are very up to par with any big-name Power Metal singer on the scene, just don’t try to do anymore harsh screams like on “Rise Like The Sun”.

The band is still far from their full potential, but songs like “First Encounter” show us some of the abilities hiding behind this group of musicians. While we don’t expect every single song to have blistering fast solos and brutal bass lines, we do appreciate them from time to time, and we feel that “Haunting Memories” was lacking a bit in this department. They got the right foundations, now it’s time to polish the songs a bit more.

Musically, these 4 songs clocking around 24 minutes are very well written and fresh enough to not call this band another clone-band. We can only expect better things from this outfit in years to come. So if you are feeling adventurous, head to their myspace and get a copy of this release.

Release: August 2009

Country: USA