Artist: Scum
Title: Painful Illusion
Type: Album
Label: Self Released

This version of Scum is from Italy, and has a sound far removed from the better Norwegian version. It is very difficult to say anything positive or unveil some revelation as to how good this album is, in fact I thought long and hard what I could actually write about this album; it isn’t bad, just plain boring. After a tedious intro, “Shame” has Rob Zombie style vocals and melodic metal stance that sits next to modern outfits like Fear Factory, Static X or maybe even Spineshank. As you’re probably now cringing and heading for the next review the band does, in their favour, use a powerful death metal kick drum approach and has some half decent leads.

Ah, you’re still here? You’ll probably wish you’d skipped it by the end but I’ll continue anyway. “Lullaby For A Sad Girl (Pt I)” uses a double snare tap which is fine for variation but poor for nodding your head to as I suspect the latter is what the band is aiming for overall. The use of samples ruins the song making it messy and confused. “Reborn Against All” has a clinical sound and part of me thinks this is like Killswitch Engage without the technicality, and is probably the meanest track on the album. The chugging tedium of “War Time” is coupled with the forgettable “Dark Hypnotic Evidence” which has little in the way of character. The second part of “Lullaby For A Sad Girl” is a short acoustic ditty which is OK but quite why the band has chosen not to place it with the first part is beyond me. The best track is the closing “Green Room (Bed Nº4)” which contains more variation after the typical riff that starts it. The beat is a little simpler overall though the chug-chug riff is never far away in a way that Pantera did in the 90s. The lead has a Metallica feel too but only if you’re paying enough attention to care. I enjoyed the pick up in pace as the track ends quite nicely with a harmony styled riff. All in all this is barely going to get them noticed outside of their own country; Painful Illusion is far too safe and very uninspiring.

http://www.scum.it
http://www.myspace.com/bandscum

Martin Harris

MTUK HOME