Album Review: Scar Symmetry - 'Dark Matter Dimensions'

Scar Symmetry has the whole Swedish Melodic Death metal thing down to a fine art coming into their fourth full length rendition.  While I’m as massive advocate for this style of music and basically a fan of everything on the Nuclear Blast roster, the formula which it follows most of the time can be slightly boring with no punches being pulled on their latest outing entitled Dark Matter Dimensions. 

The main change the band has undergone since Holographic Universe is the replacement of vocalist Christian Älvestam.  Considering the dynamic range this guy was capable of (responsible for not only the clean vocals but also the growls on all the previous records) the core fan base had a good cause to be concerned with the bands direction.  Thankfully the band chose two singers to fill the considerable void left by Älvestam no doubt allowing for a fuller and more accurate sound in the live environment.     

The clean vocal, heavy growl cross over scenario is executed once again in Dark Matter Dimensions and works a little better with the two vocalists bringing something new to the table.  Symphonic elements carry the trademark Gothenburg sound brought about by fellow Swedish thrashers Dark Tranquility, but unfortunately can quite implement this method as effectively.   

The production once again is a full rich sound with guitarist Jonas Kjellgren at the helm who is obviously developing quite a taste for this craft.  Songs like The Consciousness Eaters and Nounomenon and Phenomenon strike the perfect balance between brutality and melody flowing seamlessly between the two.   The complexity of the songs is also admirable with the tremendous amount of layers providing a considerable amount of material to digest. 

Scar Symmetry have released 4 quality studio albums in the past 5 years and while I admire the hard work ethic the band shows, each release has become more and more repetitious than the last.  This is good news for those currently in love with the current tracks; I would like to see some development of the song structures that challenge the listener before the next outing. 

While there are still a decent amount of groovy sections and sweet riffs, an improvement upon Symmetric in Design? I think not.

1. The Iconoclast
2. The Consciousness Eaters
3. Noumenon and Phenomenon
4. Ascension Chamber
5. Mechanical Soul Cybernetics
6. Non-Human Era
7. Dark Matter Dimensions
8. Sculptor Void
9. A Parenthesis in Eternity
10. Frequencyshifter
11. Radiant Strain