Jun 302015
 

Scarve – 2003

 

(In this new edition of The Synn Report, Andy Synn reviews the discography of Scarve.)

Recommended for fans of: Strapping Young Lad, Darkane, Gorod

 

Often tagged with the ever-so-damning “Modern Metal” moniker (shudder), French musical metallurgists Scarve – whose most recent line-up includes Darkane vocalist Lawrence Mackory, Soilwork guitarist Sylvain Coudret, and Extreme Metal’s resident VID (Very Important Drummer) Dirk Verbeuren – can be a hard-to-classify beast.

Existing somewhere in the irradiated wasteland between Death and Thrash, the strong hints of Meshuggah-esque futurism and Fear Factory-style mechanised rhythms have, at varying stages of their career, seen the group lumbered with awkward references to “Cyber-Metal” and “Industrial Death Metal”, neither of which seem to accurately capture the band’s overall sound and style.

Still, we’re not here to bandy genre terms and stylistic tags, we’re here to experience some damn good Metal! So, without further ado, click onwards and feast your ears on the blisteringly technical, ferociously aggressive, and enigmatically progressive Cyber-Metal assault of Scarve

Dammit, I said it didn’t I? Continue reading »

Aug 092011
 

How many Darkane fans do we have in the audience? Well, let’s see, I can count at least two — myself and Israel Flanders, who tipped me to this bit of recent news that I missed. It will actually be fairly significant news to long-time fans of this Swedish band.

Darkane’s debut album, Rusted Angel, issued in 1999, with vocals provided by one Lawrence Mackrory. But by the time the band released their second album, 2001’s Insanity, Mackrory was gone and Andreas Sydow was in. Two more albums followed with Sydow behind the mic, and then 2008 saw the release of the band’s latest album, Demonic Art, with yet another new vocalist, Jens Broman.

Last week, it was announced that Broman has decided to leave, and guess who his replacement is? Yes, Darkane have come full circle, back to Lawrence Mackrory. Since his departure from the band, he has been the vocalist for another Swedish outfit called F.K.U. (for whom he’ll continue to be a member) as well as the vocalist for Scarve (France) since 2009. He will be making his live comeback with Darkane on September 20 in Strasbourg, France at the opening show of the band’s headlining European tour, with support provided by Destinity and Devastating Enemy.

When you’ve been away from a band for roughly 13 years and are about to rejoin them for a big tour, what do you do? Well yes, you fucken rehearse. And as it happens, Darkane have released a video of the new Darkane rehearsing two songs from their discography — “Fading Dimensions” from Layers of Lies (2005) and yes, a throwback to Rusted Angel, “July 1999”. Mackrory has got a versatile voice, which you’ll get a sense of on this video. I presume we’ll get more evidence of that in the near future, since Darkane also reports they’re working on a new album. For now, check out the video after the jump. Darkane’s facebook page is here. Continue reading »