Scar Symmetry – The Unseen Empire

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Once upon a time, Scar Symmetry seemed like one of the most innovative and interesting things in melodic death metal. Whilst the likes of Soilwork were running out of ideas, Scar Symmetry were taking a similar sound but then expanding upon it exponentially, creating huge progressive metal from the backbone of melodic death. However, having lost original lead singer – the vocal virtuoso Christian Älvestam – the band seem to have lost some of their original fire. The Unseen Empire, the band’s second album with dual vocalists Robert Karlsson (growls) and Lars Palmqvist (clean vocals), does improve the situation but at the same time does raise a few eyebrows. The album certainly doesn’t come close to rekindling the glory of early releases such as Pitch Black Progress, but certainly not for lack of trying. There are actually moments where the songs on the band’s latest album sound reminiscent of those on their early works (in particular, The Anomaly starts off sounding very similar to The Illusionist). This kind of makes the album feel like it doesn’t have anything new to add – it’s a great sound, but between both Scar Symmetry and Christian’s new band Solution .45, it sounds like we’re getting the same thing over and over. What perhaps is different is a noticeable and almost pop-like sense of melody present, which is where the raised eyebrows come in. Once Robert’s epic growls (which are certainly a match for Christian’s) make way for Lars’ singing, it does sound just a bit too melodious, and sometimes it just goes slightly too far for what should still be a death metal album. That being said, it never steals away from the near cosmic sound Scar Symmetry have always managed to produce, and whilst the band have made much better albums and for the most part don’t conjure anything new, it’s still a quite enjoyable record.

Written by James Donovan
More: 2011, Albums, Death Metal, Quick.Play Reviews, Scar Symmetry