Here is a comeback that forces respect. Disappeared from the radar since 2013 and "Gaia/Medea", Scarred is back with a third album remarkable for its sincerity and know-how. Yet God knows that the band's rebirth was long and difficult and that the Luxembourgers almost hit the bottom several times. It is this story, the one of the difficulty to survive as a band, that they chose to tell along this concept album, "Scarred", which sees the arrival of a new singer, Yann Dalsheid, and a new guitarist, Vincent Wilquin (from Fractal Universe).
Although still influenced by Gojira ('Mirage', 'A.H.A.I.A'), Scarred's music has strongly evolved towards more atmospheric ambiences and melodic researches. Of course, its roots remain strongly anchored in a powerful and devastating death metal with sharp riffs supported by implacable rhythmics reminding more than once Morbid Angel ('A.D...Something', 'Chupacabra'). But the great strength of the Luxemburgers lies in a sharp sense of composition, allowing them to vary the ambiences and the styles to flirt with the melodic death (the magnificent 'Dance Of The Giants' and its opethian atmosphere) or even with the pop metal of Ghost with the surprising 'Merry-Go-Round'.
Punctuated with judiciously placed and well composed instrumentals ('Sol', 'Prisms', 'In Silent Darkness', 'Lua', 'Yours Truly'), the album follows one stylistic success after the other, evoking the torments of a band in full reconstruction, going through different stages to get out of it, as the title 'A.H.A.I.A' tells us, built in two parts, a first one based on a technical and powerful death and a second one totally psychedelic punctuated with shamanic incantations.
With this album that it is strongly advised to listen to in one go to understand its full scope, Scarred sees the end of the tunnel in a final track, 'Petrichor', in which the music becomes more luminous and the saturated vocals give way to clear vocals. Let's wish to the band that the open end of this very good album is the beginning of a new adventure followed by the greatest number. Considering the quality of "Scarred" and its powerful and catchy modern death, Scarred greatly deserves it.