For Scars, Human Furnace barks in a fit of rage against a backdrop of thudding bass, double kick drum, and drop D guitar riffs provided by Mike Lare, Danny Zink, Matt Sorg, and John Comprix. Their fifth outing for Victory Records is typical. In
Ringworm’s world, speed metal plays as big an influence as metalcore, and if the vocalist were singing for a different-sounding band, devoid of Marshall stacks and top-boost distortion pedals, his style of shouting would befit a hardcore punk group like Slapshot or
the Bruisers. However, the subject matter is the expected doomy fare, with the battle screams of the title song dealing with fear, hate, pain, and “souls of black.” A lot of old ground is being retread, previously covered by
Hatebreed,
Integrity,
Slayer, and
Ringworm themselves, and the movie dialogue samples that make up the interludes (which are commonplace for Victory) are the only devices that keep Scars from sounding like an album of the early ‘90s. Still, beefy guitar chug and angry shouting are pretty timeless, right? ~ Jason Lymangrover