When I first heard of Scamp, for a while I assumed they were
one more Meshuggah photocopy that seem to be popping up all across the world. I
could not have been more wrong. While the ‘Meshuggah/Djent’ inspiration is
definitely there, the band has quite a different overall music, making them
more than capable to stand out in the mass crowd. Listening to the album, I
could feel the influences of many hardrock bands such as Machine Head, Killswitch
Engage, Five Finger Death Punch, Volbeat and
also bands like Textures, Uneven Structures (and other djent bands).
The band was founded in 2003 by Martin Dalmark, Morten
Christensen and Kristian Bruun, and the band has previously released two demo's
and one full length album "Mirror Faced Mentality”, for which they won the
Debut Album of the Year at the Danish Metal Awards.
Coming back to the album, it kicks off with a groovy
hardcore track “The Broken 20/20”. The track slowly builds up its tempo, and
then hit’s you right in the face. In a way the track prepares you for what’s in
store for the next one hour. There is no breather on the album as the brutality
continues, through to the end. “The Boys from Dead Soul Road” for me is one of
the best tracks on the record, as you really feel the power and range in the
new vocalist Michael Bøgballe voice. It absolutely crushes you into pieces.
Along with the amazing vocals, the pounding drums standout across the
complete album, with brutal groovy beats that engage the listener till the very
end, and “Adrian” and “Silent Inferno” showcases Morten Christensen drumming
talent perfectly.
“Emotional Psyco Release” is one more track that stands out on the album, with neck breaking breakdowns and a nice sync of clean vocal passages with the heavy growls, and the pounding drums constantly blasting off in the background. What hooked me to this track was the slow instrumental passage midway, which gives the listener a small breather before coming back with full force!
“Emotional Psyco Release” is one more track that stands out on the album, with neck breaking breakdowns and a nice sync of clean vocal passages with the heavy growls, and the pounding drums constantly blasting off in the background. What hooked me to this track was the slow instrumental passage midway, which gives the listener a small breather before coming back with full force!
The title track ends the album on a much somber note, as the
track kicks off with a haunting narrative with a melodic guitar in the
background, before picking up the pace and ending with a punch.
Overall, “The Deadcalm” is quite a solid hardcore album,
with the 60 minutes rushing past the listener. The vocals and drumming on the
album are absolutely fantastic. All the tracks are heavy as hell and have a
nice groove too with amazing riffs. At the same time, I would like to see the
band experiment a bit more in their future release, as the tracks started feeling
a bit too similar to each other after a few spins.
A must listen for fans of Hardcore Tech Metal!
7/10
Reviewed By: Vidur Paliwal
Reviewed By: Vidur Paliwal