The Unseen Empire

The Unseen Empire is in no way the return to form it is being lauded as, mainly because there is no real form to return to. It is just more of the same from Scar Symmetry, only without Älvestam's soothing-as-hell vocals. His departure should have sounded the group's death knell immediately, but the band proved me wrong here by putting out something at least on par with Holographic Universe.

To address the elephant in the room: No, Palmqvist is in no way an apt replacement for Älvestam. This doesn't necessarily mean one should disregard him on principle alone, as he still has a throaty somber inflection that fits quite well with the darker atmosphere being conveyed here. Karlsson's guttural bellowing is pretty faceless and comes off as a very forced attempt at keeping the whole ordeal extreme enough to warrant the death metal tag. Seriously, Scar Symmetry is at their best when they play up their melodic, poppy disposition. This is naturally most evident on the opener, "The Anomaly". I'm not even kidding, it sounds like a Hawthorne Heights song with more spirited leads and occasional death grunts. The chorus is infectious, even if it still falls short of the sticky appeal of "Morphogenesis".

The most intriguing thing is that while the rest of the album is primarily in the heavier style that the band often phones in, it isn't nearly as offensive this time around. The compositions have naturally evolved quite a bit, with a significantly smaller keyboard presence alongside a more spastic inclination to the solos. During some songs like "Astronomicon" the band plays it a bit too safe, trying to spawn some bizarre new hybrid out of the spacey synths and grooving riffs. The dearth of keyboard textures also means that they are a lot less irritating, even if the band still uses some of the same twinkling esoteric keyboard passages that brought down the title track from Holographic Universe.

The Unseen Empire really begins to slide into it's comfort zone as it nears it's conclusion, albeit far too late to salvage the proceedings entirely. The clean tones that open up "Rise of the Reptilian Regime" is decent experimenting, and "The Draconian Arrival" is a solid mid-paced number with some spirited leadwork. I am also quite fond of "Domination Agenda" despite it's otherwise fetid stop-start verses; the chorus is it's saving grace. The album naturally sounds very slick, as per Kjellgren's quality production style. Seil's bass tends to get buried more often than it should, but he does have a decent clangy tone when it can be heard. The chunky distortion of the guitars is fitting of the futuristic subject matter, and the leads have a peaky bite to them. The band must save a lot of money by having their guitarist produce their albums, and with how good The Unseen Empire sounds, more power to them.

Even while it ends on a meandering note in "Alpha and Omega", Scar Symmetry is far from uttering their extinction mantra here on The Unseen Empire. It isn't an exhausting ordeal, clocking in at just over forty minutes. It makes a strong-enough case for the band's continued existence, which is about all us or they can hope for at this point.