Scar Symmetry
Dark Matter Dimensions

Well, I will introduce the review like this: I am a huge fan of Scar Symmetry. Truly! I like them a lot, for their great technical ability and (above all) for the great vocal talents of the bald-headed Christian Alvestam. He never excelled at growl, but the melodic parts? He could definitely nail those!

Then months ago (right when I was listening for the umpteenth time to "Pitch Black Progress") I find out that Christian has left the band. I was utterly disappointed. And the Scars? They promptly replaced him with two singers. Not one, but two: a growl/scream singer and a clean singer. Intrigued, I went on YouTube and found some live performances with the new lineup. It took watching the "new" version of "Morphogenesis" to realize that the Scars were done for...

In October, the new album comes out, and despite the semi-trauma from watching the live performances, I decide to get it. Maybe I'm wrong, maybe on the album they are amazing! So I start playing the album and listen! Scar Symmetry are fantastic!

This album sucks.

"The Iconoclast", "Ascension Chamber", and "Sculptor Void", these are the only ones I "liked" (and with those quotes, I mean they are the only ones I personally consider decent). The others fall into absolute banality. Between the growler who seems to want to imitate Mikael Stanne (after all, many have been doing that recently) and the clean singer who yes, is good, but you can tell he comes from a different genre (not to mention that his voice terribly reminds me of ZP Theart's). As for the rest, the band is the same... they are all still technically brilliant, but the composition of the pieces reaches a somewhat banal and easily predictable level. The title track is completely banal, "Noumenon & Phenomenon" is horrible. And the rest? Dull and without depth. They used to be a Melodic death metal band with a punch, now instead they seem like a poor imitation of Dark Tranquillity.

I will finish the review like this: "Dark Matter Dimensions" is not an album to throw away. Maybe someone will like it, but I (again: fan of Scar Symmetry) didn't like it almost at all. Maybe Christian listened to the album and doubled over with laughter (so much that he might have even grown some hair), but rather than laughing, I prefer to be depressed.

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