Victim Impact Statement

Odds are if you’ve been paying attention to the Canadian metal scene in the last few years you’ll have at least heard of Vancouver’s Soulscar. Their debut album Character Assassination caused quite the ruckus in 2002, resulting in a great amount of praise and qudos amongst the media, including getting signed to Galy Records.

Victim Impact Statement their sophomore release features stellar guitar work from Mikheev and Staehling complete with flowing harmonies that border on hypnotic, and riffs that I’m fairly sure you could use to strip paint. It’s scary how much Soulscar have matured musically since Character Assassination basically all across the board, if you don’t find yourself headbanging like crazy to the album, odds are you’re already in a neck brace or it’s entirely possible something is wrong with you.

Some of these songs (*cough To The Paincough*) are so catchy they should be illegal, and the production is very crisp so the music is allowed to play around inside your mind, And have just about the perfect mix of melody and aggression. Sure it makes you want to barrel the gas tanker into the old folks home, but it makes you want to throw them a party first. The album does what a lot of melodic death albums fail to do, and that is grab you by the balls, making you take notice right from it’s blistering opener Unmade, right until the interlude at the end of the album, which when I heard it I envisioned an ambulance driving away.

Much should be said of the improvements in Andrew Staehling’s vocals, His growls and screams have gotten a little more pronounced since their last album, I especially like his snarling more than anything as they do resemble those of Projector era Mikael Stanne (which personally I love). His clean vocals are however where I feel he really shines in this album, angelic and haunting at the same time and backed by music that makes you want to rip someone’s head off, it’s a treat to the ears.

It’s a great album and a perfect way to end out 2004.