Average Rating: 4
Demo Title: Promo '02
Band Members: Antti Viidanoja - drums, Hannu Lakervi - bass, Tero Rinne - guitar, Erkki Hä tinen - vocals
Location: Finland
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There are currently 1 Reviews of this Demo.
Average Rating: 4 |
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Band Name: Scorched Earth Tactics
Demo Title: Promo '02 Band Members: Antti Viidanoja - drums, Hannu Lakervi - bass, Tero Rinne - guitar, Erkki Hä tinen - vocals Location: Finland |
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Savage's Review:
Formed in Finland in 1996, Scorched Earth Tactics (not to be confused with Oakland's Scorched Earth Policy), unleashed what they deemed "some of the most catchy extreme metal known to man," upon the masses.They say you only get one first impression and right out of the gate, they failed to capture my attention with their lackluster press kit. Their CD cover art was a simple black and white flame on white (sounds like a sandwich that would give someone mean heartburn...sorry, I'm tired and full of dry humor today). The piece of paper was folded over with a brief bio on the back. I guess if you're saving money, this is the way to go but it comes across like the once popular "generic" brand with the black and white labels and boxes. They also included a B&W photocopied band picture, more history and a few reviews, all on another piece of paper folded in half. It screams cheap. Their website follows suit with the B&W motif. So if these guys want any attention from US labels, they need to put some more effort into their marketing plan. At least the guitarist hand wrote a short note so I have his autograph if they make it big!
Man, I'm never usually this critical but I felt like turning over a new leaf. I'm sure everyone here has come to expect my usual 4-5 skull ratings but at least all of those bands had excellent press kits and music. With that, let's see what they have to offer musically.
There are only three tracks on this demo. The first track, "Skies Above," reminds me of some very old school 80s hardcore punk. I'm no expert on that genre but I'd say MDC, the Crumbsuckers or Broken Bones, at least vocally like on "Choose Death." Then the song suddenly comes to a halt and smoothes out into this trippy space synth solo. Huh? And then....Die, sinner, die! Dayglow Abortions? WTF? Strange but effective nonetheless.
Track two: "Screamaniac," has some really cool guitar grooves and it also is abruptly redirected into a stoner space rock interlude before going balls out again. Vocally, he makes use of what I like to call "coffee shop styled deep banter" with an accent that reminds me of Markus Jaan from Psycore. How's that for obscure. He also adds in a few deep guttural death growls. I hate to say this but I'm really starting to like this shit. They take all these sounds that normally don't belong together and throw them in a meat grinder for loads of ground hardcore/metal/stoner fun! Definitely not for vegans!
On "Anti-Hope," the vocals remind me of Destruction and musically this song just smokes. There are some mellow guitar sounds that bring to mind some 60s TV theme song, "Mission Impossible?" But these are offset by the brutal onslaught of furious double bass drumming and another screeching guitar. I'm leery to call this brilliant, but these guys can fucking play! I guess I'd have to give them five skulls for musical ability and song arrangements and two skulls for their press kit. Since I can't give 3 ½ skulls and Scorched Earth Tactics deserve to be rounded up, they get four!
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