Scarred By Beauty update (video)

Danish metalcore Scarred By Beauty has big plans for 2012 including extensive touring in the UK, China and Europe plus a new self-recorded album in the works.

Aversionline on Yersinia

Aversionline on Swedish metalcore act Yersinia: http://www.aversionline.com/blahg/2010/03/10/yersinia-lejonhjarta-cd/
Definitely not my thing, but like Scarred By Beauty I can't deny that they're good at what they do.

Scarred By Beauty
We swim EP
self-released

Within seconds of cranking this baby up it's easy to see why Danish youngsters Scarred By Beauty won the Danish Metal Awards ‘talent of the year' accolade for 2009. This, their debut EP, reveals a band with talent that belies their years and is strong enough to sit alongside some of the best extreme metal to emerge –- even from seasoned professionals –- in a long while. SBB draw their influences from a wide range of extreme metal and have brought it all together to create an utterly savage amalgam that's not unlike Meshuggah meets Death meets Cryptopsy's "The Unspoken King" album (let that Cryptopsy reference be not the death-knell, though. While it was slated by many, that was in the context of the band's former reputation for all-out slaughter). SBB have pulled off an amazing feat with this debut, albeit one that needs a bit of tweaking here and there. The main concern here is in the choice of vocals. While Hatesphere's Jonathan "Joller" Albrechtsen sports a demonic set of lungs, this band would benefit greatly if he were to reign in the screaming a touch, essentially moving SBB away from a metalcore alignment and synching them with a more generalized extreme metal outlook. The vocals on this really hit home with Albrechtsen's shuddering death growls and, used in the sparing fashion evident here, offer a gates-of-hell-opening diversion that's as powerful as bejesus. Super-tight musicianship, well thought out song constructions, and a giant-slaying production make this one of the surprises of the year. Just wind in the screaming a touch and these guys are definitely onto a winner.
- John Norby

Sirius playlist week #5

Here's the playlist for this week's radio show Sirius XMU:

01. TALK 1
02. The Goner - Within the hour
03. Moto Boy - The heart is a rebel
04. Detektivbyrån - Hemvägen
05. TALK 2
06. Valkyrien Allstars - Hvis jeg var deg
07. Tobias Hellkvist - Patience
08. Scarred By Beauty - We swim
09. [ingenting] - Tack
10. TALK 3
11. I'm From Barcelona/Daviel Lindlöf - Lower my head
12. Monazno - Yes we can't
13. Silver - The white logic
14. Eskatol - Siste dans
15. TALK 5
16. Murmansk - The surgical assistant
17. Dyno - Destroy! Destroy!
18. Folkvang - Folkvangs första
19. C.Aarmé - Angola (Princess version)
20. TALK 5
21. Abhinanda - Junior

Reminder: my show airs every week on Sundays and Mondays at 11pm ET on Sirius XMU. That's channel 26 on Sirius, 43 on XM and 831 for DirecTV subscribers.

MP3: Scarred By Beauty - We swim

I don't really pay much attention to new-school metal, but it makes sense that Scarred By Beauty won best upcoming talent at the most recent Danish Metal Awards because they really are one the best examples of where the genre is at nowadays. All the elements are in good balance: the heaviness, the melodies, the syncopation and technicality, the breakdowns. I hear similarities to bands such as Meshuggah, In Flames and The Psyke Project, but they also throw in a few curveballs like the Deftones, an influence they actually manage to incorporate much better than you might expect. Had I read it before I heard it, I would not have believed it, but these youngsters nail it. Still, not the sort of stuff I really care for, but there's no denying that they are damn good at it.

"We swim" is the title track of their self-released 3-song debut EP. Download the entire thing at myspace: http://www.myspace.com/scarredbybeauty

Scarred By Beauty - We swim

Danish metal act Scarred By Beauty has posted their new 4-song EP "The heritage of ash" for streaming on myspace: http://www.myspace.com/scarredbybeauty
I'm pretty burnt on the metalcore influenced by Swedish death-metal, but these guys do a decent job with it if you're into that style.

Danish metal act Hatesphere has announced that Jonathan Albrechtsen (Scarred By Beauty, Mudslide) is their new vocalist. The new lineup will make their live debut at the upcoming Danish Metal Awards on November 16 where they are nominated for five categories.