CoC : Scarve - Translucence : Review

Scarve - _Translucence_
(Furtive Metal / Musisoft, 2000)
by: David Rocher (8.5 out of 10)

It seems that the French six-piece Scarve have finally made it, after several years of revelling in the realms of the underground! _Translucence_ offers ten raging tracks (plus a rather horrid rendition of Led Zeppelin's "Friends") of massive, aggressive and quite excellent deathrash that displays a range of very eclectic influences as well as a sharp taste for experimentation -- Meshuggah fans rejoice. Scarve's main originality resides in their use of two permanent singers -- a brutal vocalist, whose vocals range from hardcore screamed vocals to raucous, phlegm-churning, combined with a melodic singer, whose power vocals, when they are not given the lead, are often used to provide a ghostly back-up to Scarve's violent and dissonant assaults. Dissonance indeed seems to be the keyword for this album, as Scarve display a very strange sense of melody, which fuses flawlessly with the massive, syncopated rhythm section led by a skinsman whose playing is not un-reminiscent of Meshuggah's drum god Thomas Haake, and under whose technical and powerful skin-thrashing Scarve's assaults extend from slow, doom-laden parts to high-speed blasting segues. Whereas they are indeed very reminiscent of praiseworthy acts such as Meshuggah or Face Down, Scarve definitely have the personality and originality required to stand their own ground in the saturated scene, as their influences obviously extend from 1970's hard rock acts to present-day death metal purveyors, all the way through the 1980's thrash scene. In addition, _Translucence_ was recorded in Sweden's Dug Out studios, under the masterful guidance of the sound genius Danne Bergstrand, and boasts a huge, crunchy sound which serves Scarve's music perfectly. With the mighty Loudblast now sadly gone, it is a reassuring prospect to see that with acts such as Scarve, Dementia or Hysteresis, France still has a lot more on offer than Cradle wannabes of the likes of Anorexia Nervosa.

(article published 25/5/2000)

ALBUMS
1/9/2002	D Rocher	9.5	Scarve - Luminiferous
14/9/1997	B Meloon	7	Scarve - Six Tears of Sorrow