Every sound and influence works well, producing many odd gems such as “Chemicals” with its Alice In Wonderland chorus and nod to the electric weirdness of Devo. “Kill Each Other/ Live Forever” tips its hat towards latter-day Beatles songs while “3005” has a weeping, country guitar. Then there’s the funky darkness of “Enemy” that really mixes things together, opening with funky guitar licks and bass lines then moving into an almost southern rock mood and back to a steady drum driven dance beat. “Universe” keeps the funk feel as Malakian delivers his lines like a futuristic Bob Dylan and Dolmayan stomps out his rumble drums at a machine guns pace.
Scars On Broadway pull from all sorts of music fields and if you listen you can hear most of them as Malakian and Dolmayan look the direction of not only heavy metal, funk and punk heroes but ‘60s icons. It seems like it wouldn’t work but it does, and you can hear it all from Slayer-esque guitars to Arthur Lee and Love-like lyrics dealing with frustration and a world in chaos. Scars blends them well and comes out with something familiar yet completely unique, dark, moody, and intelligent. I can’t wait to hear what the sound of System’s next disk will be like with its members exploring and expanding their musical knowledge and wisdom.
Article comments
1 - CDoris
Glad to see Scars getting recognition for their kickass album. Can't wait for the North American Tour!