Skarthia – Retaliate

London band Skarthia decribe themselves as Melodic Death/Groove Metal.  It’s a good starting point to describe them but doesn’t really give a proper idea of how varied the music is – one of the inherent problems in trying to come up with a short genre description for a band.  The melodic death part certainly applies to the vocals, which are of the growling style favoured by melodic death metal bands.  Groove metal?  Well that may be one of the influences, but I’d also throw in Prog metal, Metal, thrash, melodic death and more for the music.  Groove metal certainly doesnt prepare you for the bone crushingly heavy riffs you’ll find on this album.

Brief comments on a few tracks..

The album opens with ‘Drill’ which starts off with a deceptively slow gentle introduction before the heavy guitar riffs kick in followed by the growling vocals and breakneck speed drumming.  This track mixes the growling vocals with sections of spoken vocals and also features female vocals (presumably from guitarist Sapir Rajuan) – quite a mix, and it works extremely well.  An excellent start to the album.

‘No last words’ ramps the power up further with those heavy guitar riffs and driving drums complemented with the growling vocals to deliver a seriously heavy song.  If anything ‘Demolition’ then takes the album to an even heavier level.

This is an excellent album.  If you like your music hard and seriously heavy with growling vocals then Skarthia are for you.

Rating: 9/10

Track listing:

1. Drill
2. No last words
3. Demolition
4. Liefest
5. Parasite
6. My retaliation
7. War graves
8. In vain

Skarthia are:

Avichai Myers – Guitar/Vocals
Sapir Rajuan – Guitar
Adam Gigi – Bass
Wayne Thompson – Drums

http://skarthia.bigcartel.com/
http://www.skarthia.co.uk
http://www.facebook.com/Skarthia