SILENT SCYTHE – Suffer In Silence

More Swedish Death Metal, and again, not without potential. This genre is a blooming one these days, and although there are very few new musical patterns to be found here, there still is some good music on display.

Silent Scythe has it all – twin guitars, melodic riffs, tight grooves, and catchy choruses, but I somewhat feel something is still missing. First, the vocals – more high-pitched than the standard growling, and more similar to operatic Power Metal singing – quickly become a bit annoying, and although there is some good riffing to be found, I’d still recommend some night time hours of girlfriends yelling and backyard cats getting jealous at their late night wining monopoly being over.

Still, this would not be that important if the songs were up to par, but unfortunately – and I’m sorry to say this, as I’m sure the band has devoted lots of work and energy into this album – there’s a lot to work on in terms of the band’s song writing.

“Old World Disorder” is my favorite song on the album, but “Longing for Sorrow,” “To Each His Own,” and the title track all have potential. Also, the acoustic “Feather” is a very good song – it’s definitely groovy, and the drums and guitars interact very well – but unfortunately this one is ruined by some ridiculous chanting vocals. Although we all love to believe it, very, very few of us — if any — evolve into great singers when drunk, and the same goes for these blokes.

The production is a bit on the “cheapish” (sheepish?) side too – although the sound is far from bad, it’s still a bit woolly (therefore “sheepish”). In the end, I guess “almost” is a fitting word for this album; these guys definitely have potential, but they’re simply not there yet. So there’s no need for the scythe to stay silent – if a scythe has other options, that is – and I look forward to future releases.