Scour - Scour (2016)
Oh boy, a supergroup!! Built up of vocalist Phil Anselmo and various instrumentalists from Pig Destroyer, Cattle Decapitation, Animosity and Strong Intention, this definitely ain't ya dad's adult contemporary music. Now, before, I had been lukewarm on Phil Anselmo's projects outside of Pantera, with Down never really impressing me and Superjoint Ritual being too fucking moronically barbaric, so when this project was announced, all I could think was that these excellent instrumentalists were gonna make some jams and have Phil Anselmo do some constipated grunts over it, but no: This is some seriously fucking evil and heavy shit. Color me impressed (but not blown away) because this album kicks some ass! Instead of Phil Anselmo pursuing yet another groove-metal band in the same vein as his work in Pantera, this music can best be described as a cross between black and death metal, which is fucking BADASS because it shows that despite Phil Anselmo being an older fellow in the metal genre, he still has his finger on the pulse of the scene and is willing to try new, heavier shit.
Phil Anselmo can growl and scream with the best of them on this album, and that combined with the fact that the instrumentals are so fucking heavy, this is a nonstop adrenaline rush (okay, aside from the eerie instrumental "Tactics") that doesn't exactly reinvent the genre or do anything that other bands aren't doing, but does it well. Phil Anselmo sounds like he's been doing this kind of music his entire fucking life! Gone are the tough-guy vocals from Pantera, and income the demonic harsh vocals I had absolutely no fucking idea he was capable of doing this well. I even kept on forgetting it was him behind the microphone! Shit!! Okay, onto the actual music: If you like one song, you'll probably like 'em all, because it doesn't ever really break away into something different aside from an instrumental interlude towards the end. I've listened to this EP quite a few times, and I still can't tell any of the songs apart aside from small little parts that stick out, but God, it hits. Hard. Hell, one of the best things about this EP is that it's just short of 14 minutes, so it doesn't wear out its welcome with a long, strenuous 40+ listening session that'd just end up giving you a headache. It's short, it's brutal, and it's gone, but without totally annihilating your fucking ass first.
Truth be told, I kinda wish Phil Anselmo tell Down and Superjoint Ritual to fuck off because this band is the most interesting thing he's done in a long time, because, and this is really important, it DOESN'T sound like a project you'd expect him to put out, and stands not just as a "good side-project" for everyone involved, but a good band with a great deal of promise. The production is huge, the riffs are heavy, the vocals are demonic, what more could you expect? I mean, come on, Pantera was heavy, sure, I don't think many people would argue that, but do you REALLY wanna listen to Pantera or any of his other bands immediately after this? Probably not. Scour or bust.
8/10
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Feel free to check out the song previews/buy this album using my Amazon Associate link!
