EVIL SCARECROW - Chapter IV: Antartarctia

This is Evil Scarecrow’s fourth studio album and it is packed with a wild mix of songs. Songs about aliens and time travel are just some of the quirky things on offer here. The album contains some really catchy songs that will have you humming along by the second listen. The album, while a metal album, features riffs that wouldn’t seem out of place in classic rock songs as well as orchestral accompaniments and synthesizers that add an 80s vibe to the songs at points. These combinations make the album quite unique to listen to and at times it reminds me of a cross between the bands Ghost and Avatar.

The album starts really strong with ‘Skulls of Our Enemies” – a song which features chunky, distorted guitar riffs and a sing along chorus before moving onto the second track, ‘Red Riding Hood’, a song which revolves around a really punchy bass guitar riff and extremely fast drumming. These opening tracks immediately hooked me and had me nodding my head along to the frantic instrumental playing they displayed. The album overall is a very technically proficient work with high tempo guitar solos (Red Riding Hood in particular) and rapid drum beats backed up by interesting synthesizer accompaniments. I did find however that at points the bass was not always very easy to hear in the mix as it sometimes was completely pushed out of the way by the drums and electric guitars. The vocals contained a mix of clean, hard rock style singing and heavier growls typically found in very heavy forms of metal and these varying vocals helped make the songs flow quite well and transition into each other effectively.

This album is very theatrical and just by listening you can tell that the band want to tell stories with their music, albeit very strange stories. In a way it reminds me of Power metal and Progressive music because of the technically impressive compositions and fantasy lyrics. I would say that this album differs from these styles slightly as it is more accessible for people who don’t listen to those genres as at points the album goes from a hard rock sound, to a more laid-back pop sound. I think that this means that most people would be able to listen to this album and enjoy the dramatic flair that the band have regardless of their usual musical tastes.

I would say that this album is definitely worth having a listen to with the highlights being the tracks: ‘Skulls of Our Enemies’, ‘The Magician’ and ‘Hurricanado’. After an interesting album like this, Dr Hell (vocals) and the rest of this Nottingham situated band are sure to attract more attention to their eclectic mix of heavy metal, science fiction and wacky humor. It will be interesting to see how they develop their sound further after this release.

NR