A new shade for Scour.
After three more or less colorful EPs, the Black Metal project featuring Philip H. Anselmo (vocals, Down, Pantera, Superjoint Ritual, ex-Necrophagia…), John Jarvis (bass/vocals, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, ex-Pig Destroyer), Derek Engemann (guitar/vocals, ex-Cattle Decapitation), Adam Jarvis (drums, Lock Up, Misery Index, Pig Destroyer) and Mark Kloeppel (guitar/vocals, Misery Index) unveil their tenth anniversary album, Gold.
With thirteen tracks and less than forty minutes of sound, the album is undoubtedly intended to be very aggressive, and it shows this without delay with Cross, the first composition where the frantic rhythm hits. Phil‘s vocals are relatively unhealthy and combine well with the furious backing vocals of his bandmates, as on Blades, which confirms my suspicions of Grind/Death influences beneath the piercing leads. Every moment of this composition is dedicated to violence, and the only moment of respite comes when Infusorium announces itself with its heady guitars, quickly followed by a thick rhythm section that makes the most of its slowness. A few leads embellish it before the final explosion followed by Ornaments, an oppressive interlude where keyboards and strange noises lead us to the driving Coin, which takes advantage of slightly different influences to offer majestic passages and an elaborate solo. Evil jumps on the bandwagon with its screaming riffs under the various occult vociferations, but the track suddenly cuts off again, allowing Devil to assert itself with an equally visceral approach. The track is unsurprisingly very powerful before a finale that seems almost soothing, then Contaminated offers us a new interlude, much more anguished than the first, which is largely reminiscent of the atmosphere in films such as Saw. It doesn’t take long for Hell to once again take us aboard their hurricane of raw fury that ravages everything in its path, joining Invoke who seem to have exactly the same goal of sheer destruction. The break is clearly dedicated to the Evil One, but the rage soon comes back to haunt us and leads us to Gold, the eponymous composition where Old School roots are proudly displayed at high speed, not without a few more unifying passages. The final slows down and weighs down the rhythm, which becomes chaotic, before giving way to the final interlude, Angels, which is clearly no more soothing than the others, but which paves the way for Serve, the final track where a few melodies are skilfully inserted between the thick, heavy riffs, like cool breezes in this hellhole.
Although overtly oriented towards unhealthy, blasphemous Black Metal, Scour incorporates bits of pure violence to make Gold a raw, abrasive block of darkness that can be savored without hunger.
90/100