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Scaperoot - Think Happy Thoughts


*
=Staff's pick

Buried Alive*
Frustration
Self-Fulfilling Prophecies*
Scars


Genre Hardcore
Niclas Pettersson
Vocals
Tracks 4
Daniel Lindahl
Guitar
Runningtime 18 Min.
André Bergvall
Guitar
Label  
Henric Stodell
Bass
Release 19 Sept. 2005
Victor Stodell
Drums
Country Sweden
-
Keyboards
Similar artists Chimaira

The best way to classify the sound of Scaperoot, which consists of five guys in their early twenties from the town of Hovmanstorp in southern Sweden, is to dissect the opening track Buried Alive on their latest demo Think Happy Thoughts. This song contains everything that I like about this band, which means that it simply must be downloaded.

During their first years as a group, Scaperoot have cooked up a formula that sound like little else does. The heavy guitars have some elements of thrash and melodic death metal to them, while the furious vocals are pure hardcore. When these components are mixed with an awesome chorus and surprising increases of pace at times, which is the case with Buried Alive, the result is absolutely stunning.

The vocalist Niclas Pettersson deserves credit for screaming his lungs out throughout the whole demo without ever catching his breath, it seems. At its best, the screams reminds of high-profile lead singers like Mark Hunter (Chimaira) or Corey Taylor (Slipknot), a very good grade in my book. Pettersson's vocals are consistent pretty much all the time, and therein lies the demo's biggest flaw, unfortunately. On a 4-track demo like this it works okay, but on a whole album I fear that I would miss the diversity a bit too much to be indulgent towards this problem.

Another aspect that needs to be taken care of before the band records their first album is that the music in itself, like the vocals, lacks a touch of variety. Sure, the song Scars begins with a Linkin Park-esque guitar melody (which isn't necessarily a bad thing, mind you) but Scaperoot would most likely benefit from more than that.

Still, Think Happy Thoughts is an impressive effort, especially since the band members are rather young at age and apparently self-taught as well. That they already have accomplished a song as heavy as Buried Alive should mean that even greater things are to come.

Production
Vocals
Compositions

7

6

6

 
Summary



6 chalices of 10 - Niklas

Related links:

www.scaperoot.com