Melomanes, The Scalar Process offers its first album.
Created in France in 2016 by Eloi Nicod (guitars/composition), the band embodies four years of composition with Coagulative Matter. For the recording of the album, we have Mathieu Lefevre on vocals and Clement Denys (Fractal Universe) on session drums. The line-up is completed by Cédric Mells (batterie, Les Gens de la Lune, Inside Project) et Alix Guéneau (guitare).
The first contact is made with Elevation, a song that immediately presents the two aspects of the band: an airy sound, that suddenly melts to very heavy Death Metal. The feeling is the same for Cosmic Flow, the two universes permanently overlap and clash , while howlings add a touch of fury to fast-paced riffs. We also notice a scathing bass sound, like on Ink Shadow, a track on which the band invites Scott Carstairs (Fallujah) to add a piercing lead that perfectly integrates itself to the composition. Pure violence is back with Celestial Existence, a song on which dissonance adds a bit of contrast with this unleashed heavy strength, then the band turns around to this soft technicality with Mirror Cognition, a song that welcomes howlings from Mark Garrett (Kardashev, Viraemia) on the end for an explosion.
We go back to heavy tones with the oppressive Poisoned Fruit, that combines heady harmonics with an aggressive fastness, just like the dark Azimuth, on which the band invites Enila for some female backing vocals after throwing us with cosmic leads. Beyond The Veil of Consciousness begins next, between violence, dissonance and above all musicianship, three characteristic that never leave compositions, even during the most progressive parts, like the one that comes before Ouroboros, a weighing interlude on keyboards. We also have the mad keyboard of Tommy Bonnevialle (Virulent Depravity, Deathawaits) on Coagulative Matter, the band’s longest composition, that melts majestic and impressive parts with Jazz/Ambient breaks, that allow the band to chain riffs. Somnambulation, the last song, allow us to recover from this hurricane with cosmic airy sonorities before the final part.
For a first album, The Scalar Process’ work is surprising. The band easily melts on Coagulative Matter an ultra technical Death Metal with Prog parts, futuristic and spatial ambiances as well as a relentless fury. A masterpiece!
90/100