Review by Stephen Pedicino
I’ve considered this band a brother of Canada’s Into Eternity for years now. Both have similar styles, both have gained substantial success, and most importantly both have twelve letters in their name. After two albums, these highly melodic death metallers have displayed those skills that thrills. But, it comes with a heavy heart to admit that these Swedes may be losing some steam and symmetry in the process with their third release.
Holographic Universe is the third album from Scar Symmetry. Ithas a rather progressive beginning with its first two tracks. “Morphogenesis” is a diluted but catchy rendering of the band’s capabilities and is also the most likely to be a video track. The following, “Timewave Zero,” has a rather bland orchestration but does feature a high quality 20 second death metal part along with some solos. Would I have pointed out a standout 20 seconds on previous SS albums? No. You’ll notice the growls haven’t changed very much from Pitch Black Progress. They’re strong, but seriously unvaried.
“Quantumleaper,” is a nice way to accelerate the record and hook the listener towards Scar Symmetry’s melodic game. You’d almost think you were listening to a standard power metal track if not for the death vocals. A quality song, but things don’t fully click with me until “The Missing Coordinates.” Its here that I think Scar Symmetry utilize what I know they posses. A head-pounding section of crunchy yet smooth death metal, a thoughtfully planned chorus that glides with melody and an unexpectedly sweet middle break. All these elements collaborate to make one hell of a song.
It's followed by another favorite off the album, “Ghost Prototype I – Measurement of Thought.” The first half is a lucidly modern example of prog/power metal. Pagan’s Mind could be cited as a reference here. Inevitably, it gets crushed by the formal death metal section present in just about every Scar Symmetry song. It seems a bit unnecessary, but it paves a rhythm for some decent solos afterwards.
Varying in quality, the next three songs prolong the sequential pattern of Gothenburg accent and alternating progressive arrangements that characterize this band so well. None of them are bad by any means but unfortunately they’re about as predictable as the direction your toilet will flush. With this record I can surely say that Scar Symmetry failed to empower their music with the creative touch present on their prior release.
What saves the album are a resilient final three songs.
The title track, “Holographic Universe,” clearly had some thought put into its synthesis. Clocking in at over nine minutes, it serves some of the best that Scar Symmetry has to offer. Its cosmic aesthesia strengthens the song and helped to provide a fresh mist from an album that I was ready to dismiss as a replication. BOTH the harsh and clean vocals sections are catchy this time around and things just sound more inspired here than on other parts of the record. Some excellent sweeps come into play around the 4:30 mark and bring to mind shades of Nevermore’s Jeff Loomis. The only downside to the song is that after listening to it, you’ll question why the majority of Holographic Universe isn’t as impressive….
“Three Dimensional Shadow” is an uplifting little piece while “Ghost Prototype II – Deus Ex Machina” brings a more dramatic close to the album. Both sound substantially original and redeem the record in a positive way. And just like that, things end….
Holographic Universe pursues to tap into that keg of crisp axe-slashing and catchy harmonization that fans know them for. Some parts succeed, others sound like leftovers from previous recordings. And when I say leftovers, I mean leftovers. Songs of the same caliber as Pitch Black Progress would have sufficed but the new effort has some filler that simply lack passion. Scar Symmetry could have differentiated themselves with this release, but like many bands they seem content with staying on a linear itinerary. I think if Scar Symmetry doesn’t come back with a highly impressive successor, many fans, myself included, will begin to lose faith.