Four years on from their last album, Once Human are primed and ready to launch a fresh assault with their new release Scar Weaver.
Opening track “Elodian” comes out of the corner swinging, immediately looking for the knockout blow. It’s incredibly punishing and you certainly take a beating, but you just about manage to compose yourself for the next track. How I’ve missed those vocals!
Right, let’s get this out of the way as it’s probably controversial. “Deadlock” doesn’t need Rob Flynn – I get it, I understand the reason behind it and I’m fully aware of the Machine Head ties but unfortunately, it feels like a Machine Head track rather than a Once Human one. I just couldn’t pull myself away from that mindset as he has one of those voices that is so damn distinctive. Fortunately, title track “Scar Weaver” pulls me quite abruptly out of that mindset and almost makes me feel guilty about it.
A fine example of just how the band have refined and redefined their sound comes in the form of “Bottom Feeder”. Lauren’s screams have got lower, the cleans are stronger and overall more polished as a collective unit. The riffs coming out of “Where The Bones Lie” are just immense – a future live favourite for sure.
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Hands down my absolute highlight track of this album, and one that flips this album on its head, is “Erasure”. That intro… it complements the aesthetic of the album perfectly and the chorus almost has a grungy Alice In Chains feel to it that I wasn’t expecting, but I’m totally here for.
Following that, “Deserted” has some wonderful clean vocal parts with an incredible hook throughout. Then “We Ride” ramps up everything. The fast-paced drums and solos are hard to ignore, with the two final tracks “Cold Arrival” and “Only In Death” being the final piece of the puzzle that I will continue to deconstruct and put back together.
Warped savagery at its finest.
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Scar Weaver will be released on 11th February
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