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The Scintilla Project - The Hybrid

Published August 26 2014


*
=Staff's pick

Scintilla (One Black Heart)
Beware The Children
Permanence*
Some Nightmare
Angels*
Pariah
The Damned And Divine*
Life In Vain
No Rest For The Wicked


Genre Heavy Metal
Biff Byford
Vocals
Tracks 9
Andy Sneap
Guitar
Running time 53 Min.
-
Guitar
Label UDR/ADA
Anthony Ritchie
Bass
Release 18 August 2014
Lionel Hicks
Drums
Country England
-
Keyboard
Producer Biff Byford, Andy Sneap
Similar artists ---

First of all, to rule out any possibilities of misunderstandings, I have to say that this album is not the soundtrack to the Lionel Hicks produced movie Scintilla, but it was inspired by it. The album's final track, Saxon's No Rest For The Wicked, is nevertheless featured in the movie and what we get here is the audio version as it's featured in the movie. Since I rarely see any motion pictures and if you're interested in what this feature has brought to this album, I suggest that you check it out for yourselves, because I don't intend to put more effort in that matter.

After all these years and all those Saxon records, it feels a little strange to hear Biff Byford doing vocals on an entire record and not having his regular band backing him up. He has done some great guest appearances with various artists in the past, but this feels totally different. For those who want to know, and I reckon that's probably the most of you, the record The Hybrid doesn't sonically resembles Saxon's works, except that both parties basically are dwelling in the heavy metal vein. Biff doesn't really come out as strong as he usually does, still I think that it would have been quite unnecessary for the vocalist to create something that he does on a regular basis with his main band.

The Scintilla Project basically presents some kind of lighter version of heavy metal that involves a few moments of progressive elements with keyboards added to get the right mood in that direction. I also sense that this effort is less direct and less powerful than what we are generally given through Saxon. The songs generally don't hold the high standards that I'm looking for and in fact there are only three songs which I find attractive, marked as Staff's pick above.

The remaining tracks aren't simply accurate and sharp enough to have my full blessing. Most of them don't come out as something striking, which at the end of the day makes this record end up as just something decent. I wouldn't say that the songs are bad in any way, but with Biff's presence, I was naturally hoping for a greater outcome.

Performance
Originality
Production
Vocals
Songwriting

6

5

6

6

5

 
Summary



5 chalices of 10 - Tobbe


Related links:

www.facebook.com/scintillaproject
www.saxon747.com