Review by Vladimir on May 14, 2024.

Do you like heavy metal? Do you want to wander in the dark to cast spells on a cold and misty night? Well then, you have come to the right place. The Belgian heavy metal band Scavenger, whom you may be familiar with thanks to their 1985 debut album Battlefields with that uncanny drawn dystopian warrior cover art, have finally returned with a brand new release. Despite only one original member in the band left, with the rest being mostly new blood and fresh steel, the band's saga continues with their second full-length Beyond The Bells, released on March 22nd, 2024 via No Remorse Records. Can this album be considered as a nice comeback? Let's find out...

The album opens up with an ambient intro track 'The Warning Bell', slowly building up the anticipation towards the spectacle with synthesizers and clean guitars, when all of a sudden the crescendo of drums, guitar melodies and the church bells comes down on you to kick off into action. Without a moment to waste, the second track 'Black Witchery' strikes with its full-throttle heavy metal, preparing you for this grand and thrilling blockbuster. If the energy was not crazy enough from the beginning, the third track 'Watchout!' is truly where the fun begins, coming at you like a speeding bullet and hitting hard like a hammer on the anvil, thanks to its badass heavy riffs, superb melodies, catchy chorus and relentless drumming. A nice addition to the album's tracklist is the fourth track 'Streetfighter', which is obviously about the cult classic video game franchise Street Fighter, and it even includes the "Ready? FIGHT!" sound effect for good measure, though I must admit that I was a bit disappointed to have not heard "HADOUKEN!" as well. Jokes aside, this was a fun inclusion on the album that really made me smile, plus it's an incredibly catchy track. It's not all about speed though, because we have a couple of slower moments with examples such as 'Hellfire', going for a more straightforward hard-rocking approach, while still maintaining the vibe of the album without straying too far from its course. Along the way, we also got a couple of fine tracks, especially 'Nosferatu', keeping it heavy and steady towards the very end with 'Crystal Light', a nice and powerful headbanger which successfully concludes this awesome journey.

The album is overall simplistic and standard with its catchy and melodic heavy metal songwriting, yet still successful in its execution to deliver power and action. Although I enjoyed this album's overall output for the better part, I felt like the songwriting became a bit more formulaic and predictable somewhere around the second half of the album. Some of the songs are exceptional and more attention-worthy, no doubt about that, but some of them are also a bit too similar in style, making them less interesting due to overall familiarity. Despite this issue, that doesn't mean that these songs are not enjoyable or worth listening to, because they still deliver the goods from start to finish no matter what. If anything, I'd say that it at least contributes to the stylistic consistency of the entire album, maintaining the even flow of heaviness and entertainment. Another nice thing worth mentioning is the beautiful retro style album cover, designed by the colombian artist Luisa Agudelo aka Subhuman Being, whose work I've been very fond of since Enforcer's two singles "Kiss Of Death" and "At The End Of The Rainbow", and she perfectly captured that heavy metal essence of Scavenger with its nocturnal and mystical approach.

In the end, even though Beyond The Bells may seem just like another heavy metal release added to the NWOTHM roster of albums, it's still a very nice thrill-ride that a crazed oldschool maniac can enjoy for what it is. Bands like Scavenger obviously have no intention of reinventing the wheel, but instead to keep the wheel spinning harder and faster as much as they can, without pulling back and without sacrificing anything. Their overall output is very simple and straightforward, but still on point, giving you exactly what you'd expect from a wild heavy metal album.

Rating: 8.4 out of 10

Review by Felix on January 18, 2022.

Grave's debut was a milestone of Swedish death metal, but You'll Never See... could not fully convince. It was therefore interesting to see whether the band would be able to regain its compositional quality or not. To be honest, their new songs did not give rise to a clear and unified picture.

The downer of the EP was 'I Need You', unfortunately one of the two brand new pieces. Already this title boggled my mind. I was used to song names like 'Premature Autopsy' or 'Skin Her Alive', nonsensical, but somehow fitting in a very crude way. Yet the title was, of course, not the main problem and 'I Need You' was anything else but a love song. Nonetheless, this lame, slow-moving product from the second hand market failed to offer everything which is needed to form a strong (death) metal song. Neither gripping riffs nor high velocity rhythms appeared, any form of dynamism was absent and surprising twists and turns did not show up as well. The title track itself also did not put the focus on high speed, but its creaking main riff developed a subliminal force. Without question, this track left a better impression. However, the best songs of the EP were yet to come.

Older tracks like 'Black Dawn' and 'Tremendous Pain' showed the abysmal facet of death metal in a much more impressive way than the brand new compositions. The abrasive riffing of 'Black Dawn' built the fundament of a precise high speed killer with a memorable chorus. Too bad that the sound of this number did not meet the legitimate expectations, although it was recorded during the same session as the new tracks. Generally speaking, the production of the songs was acceptable, no more, no less. Under these circumstances, it came as no surprise that early (and surprisingly powerful) recordings of 'Day Of Mourning' and 'Inhuman' kept the EP above water. Yet these tracks were already known from their great debut. They therefore did not add an enormous value to this output. Nevertheless, their maliciousness and combativeness mirrored the best side of the Swedish squadron.

Everybody who does not possess ...And Here I Die... Satisfied can relax. It is a solid EP that reflects the spirit of the early nineties, but it does not impress with any kind of outstanding features. The growling, the leads, the tempo changes - nothing offers an exceptional feature. If you want to die satisfied, listen to their debut before you commit suicide - but I hope, you have better things to do.

Rating: 7.2 out of 10