Egyptian death metal band Scarab has been creating pummeling material that draws on the culture and mythology of their home country since 2006, channeling a mid-tempo and groove laden sound that was influenced by some of the classic American bands in the genre. Their latest release Martyrs of the Storm comes nearly five years after its predecessor and sees the group expanding outwards towards an even denser sound and monstrous riffing that sounds like it’s capable of toppling the pyramids. While the songs do blur together a bit due to the reliance on similar tempos, there’s still a lot to draw death metal fans in for those that want a healthy dose of blasting and grooves in equal capacity.
Scarab’s approach has remained similar over each of their three albums, channeling into the brutal and bludgeoning nature of early death metal with slower grooves and blasting drums that rarely feel like they’re going to give you a chance to breathe. On Martyrs of the Storm the production values have been given a significant boost, with every instrument coming through with more clarity and weight behind it that gives the material more density than before. It’s easily the most polished the group has ever sounded, yet they haven’t lost any of the aggression in the process. There’s definitely some healthy Morbid Angel influence behind the writing, and with slight tinges of melody to the guitar leads alongside some scorching solos there’s plenty of appeal for death metal fans. Scarab has brought in a number of guests including Karl Sanders (Nile) and Amduscias (Temple of Baal) to provide guitar leads throughout the album and they’re implemented naturally with the rest of the band’s writing. However, with the tempos sticking towards slower grooves and blasting for much of the run time there are moments throughout the ten tracks where the ideas start to feel a bit similar and don’t fully stand on their own. There are some atmospheric interludes that do help to break the material up and it remains consistently intense from beginning to end, but it would help to have a few more stand-out moments at the individual level.
Sammy Sayed has a vocal style that suits the type of old-school death metal the band is going for throughout Martyrs of the Storm. He employs a guttural growl that feels just as dense and heavy as the instrumental tone, but it’s delivered in a way that you can easily make out the lyrics. Along with his growls you have backing screams from Al-Sharif Marzeban that are at the higher end of the spectrum, and the interplay between the two ranges gives Scarab a more dynamic feel to their vocals than is typical for death metal. The performance remains consistent in its intensity for the entire release and with the production values allowing the vocals to stand slightly above the rest of the mix it gives them a towering presence that proves to be appealing.
This is the most polished album Scarab has put out to date, and they’re still capable of delivering slower grooves and denser blasting that’s reminiscent of what made earlier death metal so appealing. While it does start to blend together a bit by the end, there’s still plenty of substance here and some scorching leads that make it worth a recommendation to fans of the genre. With each release these guys continue to get better, and they’re getting closer to a breakout level. Martyrs of the Storm is available from ViciSolum Productions.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg
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