I’ve been listening to and reviewing albums from Scotland’s Scordatura since their 2013 debut, Torment the Weak, and follow-up Mass Failure in 2020. I’ve enjoyed them, but can’t say they really grab me, and frankly, I always thought Man Must Die was the superior Scottish death metal act.
Well, with Man Must Die and the short-lived Cerebral Bore calling it quits, the mantle of Scotland’s best death band was wide open, and some bands like Coffin Mulch, Party Cannon, Tyrannus, Penny Coffin, and ChestCrush, have tried to take up that mantle, but Scordatura seems to be the logical choice (unless Korpse reunite?).
So with album number 4 and a shiny new, befitting label in Everlasting Spew, how would Scordatura rise to meet the challenge? Quite well, I’m happy to report, even if I’m not completely blown away.
Still playing a very American/Floridian version of brutal death metal, the band’s consistency shows up on this brisk and burly 28-minute beatdown. The fact that 3/4 of the members have been in the band since 2007 also shows (the only change is bassist Liam McCafferty joining the fray in 2024), with an album that continues the same sound as the prior three.
From opener “Doomed to Fate” to closer “Begging to Die”, you get repeated headbutts to the nose and mouth, leaving a shattered mess of teeth and bones. The pinch harmonic blasts deliver classic Suffocation-y, Cannibal Corpse-y, and Brutality-ish riffs with just a hint of The Code is Red... era era Napalm Death.
When not blasting your face in with the likes of “When the Red Moon hangs Low” or “Retali(hate)”, a few grooves kick in, but don’t expect breakdowns per se, just a few short pummelling bars of slower, more measured headbutting, as heard on the title track, “Existential Termination”, “Oppressed Repressed” or “Maw of the Void”.
This is no frills brutal death metal that would have fit on Comatose Music stylistically, but is also an excellent fit on Everlasting Spew now.
