Dark Matter Dimensions

How this album has over 70% is beyond me.

As much as I hate to admit it now, I had horribly high expectations of this release. I'm a huge Scar Symmetry fan and even though Christian's departure was heartbreaking, I knew that the core members were still there. The same members who wrote beautiful yet crushing melodic death metal for 3 albums straight. The same members who wrote good enough music that earned them a spot in my Top 10 favorite bands of all time. Alas, it seems the apathy bug got to them and they decided pushing out a new album was more important than actually composing one.

I'll start by saying what I DO like about the album: Roberth, the dude growling, has a great tone that is very reminiscent of Christian. There's a nice thick, non-guttural sound to his voice. While his growls aren't as good as Christian, I'd say they're up there so he was a worthwhile replacement. Another thing I enjoy are the lyrics, which have consistently been good. After that, though, everything else blows.

Lars, the guy singing, is mediocre. He's average in every sense of the word. Not BAD, but he isn't GOOD. Just average. He lacks the emotion of Christian. There's no discernible energy emitting from his voice (perhaps because Autotune is getting in the way?) so you're left with a guy who can't find his stride. High notes are not his thing. He just doesn't have the range, no matter how much he'd like to believe so. Maybe if he found what he was truly good at and he put some emotion in his voice I could see him as a fair replacement for Christian, but his debut shows he has a lot of work to do.

In the end, though, there's no point in crying over spilled milk. The new singer doesn't seem to be going anywhere any time soon and admittedly, he's tolerable. So what is the problem?

The musicianship is downright shit here. I don't care if your record label or everyone on Last.FM is screaming for a new album, there is ZERO point in pushing out something as incomplete and half-assed as this. We all know the ability is there, but it seems like they did the musical equivalent of doodling and called it an album. The riffs, which sound awful because of the production, are forgettable and uninteresting. Not that I've ever praised Scar Symmetry for having groundbreaking riffs, but I expect better from guitarists of this caliber. Even their forte, lead and solos, are abysmal on DMD. There are no great melodies like the past albums and the solos are just a complete mess, both of which are incoherent to the point of something a novice would play.

The drums are pretty much the same so that's a plus. Just your average death metal drummer who can also play quite well at tempos that are under 200 BPM. The shitty part is that he just doesn't shine with such bad production. Which leads me to my next point:

The production is fucking awful. The complete antithesis of good. It's flatter than Paris Hilton's tits. Everything is just so equal. It's flat to the point that the energy just can't come out. It's like everything has this layer pressing on it, turning it equal and vaporizing all emotion. As if things couldn't get worse, the production is hollow as fuck. Listen to the chorus of "Frequencyshifter" and you'll see what I mean. Unfortunately, things don't stop at flat and hollow. The production is considerably muddier. While I dislike overproduction, having a dirtier, more raw production just doesn't fit when everything is flat and hollow.

Everything about Dark Matter Dimensions screams of hurriedness. Sure, the competency and ability is there, but it's like they didn't know what the fuck to do with it this time. I hope they take a few years off and dwell on their mistakes because this album should not even exist; devoid of creativity, energy and care.

So I ask again: where's the old Scar Symmetry? This isn't a matter of new vocalists; this is a matter of musicianship. It just simply isn't here. People can bitch and moan all they like about Lars' mediocre singing, but there's a much bigger problem. The drive, the emotion, the ambition. It's all absent here and reeks of a cash out.