With former In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad hooking up with Glenn Ljungström – another ex-In Flames axeman – for new project The Resistance, you’d be forgiven for expecting Scars to be yet more minor-key melodeath. It isn’t.
It’s proper filth, all Swedish death metal guitar tone (it seems the world’s entire supply of Entombed-replicating effects pedals aren’t owned by bands on Southern Lord after all), atonal lead work, aggressive vocal growls and dirty d-beats. The Resistance are far more likely to appeal to fans of Black Breath or Disfear than those of their prior band, and they aren’t too far from those bands in fury and pulse-accelerating intensity.
A radical reinvention of Swedish death metal this isn’t, and given how much crusty shit like this is flying around, it may get lost in the crowd with little to make it stand out bar member pedigree, but Scars is a fun 40-minute blast of distorted vitriol. It’ll have your middle finger raised and your face curled into a snarl.
