Description
The debut release by SCARS ON MURMANSK is dominated by impelling chords and rhythms; sparsely the band gives melody a chance. In my opinion, the vocals move the music a piece towards Brutal Death Metal, for a bigger part guttural growls reign, sometimes loosened by the one or other screeched lyrical part.
Convenient breaks and breathers show up in contained manner amid the song structure like during Hate Mask or the whispered sequence in course of The Eye Within. We come across some melodies in the background, but in all, stomping and blunt rhythms dominate this record.
Slight industrial influences disperse a distanced flair and attach zest to stoic grooving pieces like The End Of A Trip. SCARS ON MURMANSK offer a huge amount of brutality, but in contrast, the melodic finesses have to step aside. In the end, I miss light-bulb-moments, because a few measure changes, weird guitars and heavy grooves during the felicitous composition Blind are not enough to boost Into Dead Lights above average.
Why not adding more hymnal parts like in the concluding track A Frozen Life? In this case, the sentiment resembles to Carcass in Heartwork-phase, but this feeling does not appear in many cases and therefore this release is only interesting for friends of American style extreme metal in contrast to all disappointed melody-lovers.
