The Angry Scotsman
Music to feel the power of Christ move through you...like a coked up jet fighter in mid dog fight.
This album is famous for being one of the giants of "Christian Metal" and I suppose that is accurate, as this album is based on the 5 books of the Old Testament, though personally lyrical content means little to me, (not like you can understand 90% of what Steve Rowe says anyway), it's all about the music. No doubt, the music here is straight up death metal. The guitar work is near entirely low register, tremolo picking, blast beats and double bass drumming abound, there are no guitar solos, and the vocals are quite brutal. No clean singing or even screaming here, it's entirely guttural growls, (often delivered with a real force behind it), shrieks that verge on black metal or bellows so deep and inhuman it actually sounds demonic. This is a no frills, nothing superfluous, straightforward Death Metal album.
That doesn't mean it's uninteresting. Quite the contrary, "Scrolls of the Megilloth" is a well composed piece of music. There is a lot here, from balls to the wall blast beats, doom metal-esque dirges, mid tempo parts, thrash beats, lots of good riffs and movements varying in speed, feel and brutality. There's lots of groove to be found, solid drumming, and plucky sounding bass that reminds me of Death. None of these parts last for too long. They linger for a minute or so, sometimes shorter or longer, before moving onto a different part. The progression is always different. You don't get bored at any part, it never lasts too long or goes away too soon, you don't know exactly what's coming next, and the songs aren't too long. It's an extremely well crafted album. It's finale, the near 12 minute "Ancient Prophesy" does everything in one track. It's like a microcosm of the album in one flowing piece. Hell, I'd nominate it for "best summary of death metal" out there.
To conclude, this is a very good, albeit unspectacular, death metal album. While it is nothing mind blowing or stand out, it does what it does very well. It's brutal, it's groovy, it holds your interest. "Scrolls of the Megilloth" is an extremely well composed album. This is what makes up for its fairly standard style. Though there are touches here and there to keep it a tad unique, like organ, church bells and choirs, natural noises all of which add freshness and contribute to it's creepy feel. Christian or not, a break that consists of fire and people screaming in agony is some brutal s***
FOUR STARS