A supergroup, Scour features Philip H. Anselmo, Derek Engemann (Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals), John Jarvis (Agrophobic Nosebleed), Mark Kloeppel (Misery Index) and Adam Jarvis (Pig Destroyer) engaging in the sort of hyper-manic, grind-infused black metal that their collective legacy would imply. Black is the third EP the band have dropped on an unsuspecting world since Grey brutalised the unwary back in 2016. A ferocious, icy blast of blackened grind, Black simply picks up where 2019’s Massacre single left off, battering the listener into a bloody pulp over the course of fifteen, distressingly intense minutes.
The EP opens with Doom, although it’s immediately clear that the title refers to an impending sense of dread rather than the genre. Caught somewhere between the mechanical grind of Pig Destroyer and the earthen assault of Dimmu Borgir, the deftly interwoven vocals of Philip H. Anselmo (on devastating form), Derek Engemann and John Jarvis, seem to emerge from the heart of a seething maelstrom and the track is over before you’ve fully assimilated the beating it is administering upon your senses. Unbelievably, the groaning horror of Nail ups the ante, yet for all the speed and unhinged brutality, the band manage to make it sound imperial in delivery.
The EP’s sharpest point is surely the sub-two-minute Propaganda, which compresses the remit of Emperor to a quite remarkable degree. The band leave no time for the increasingly agitated listener to draw breath, however, and plunge straight into the churning grind of Flames – a dark pit where the only hope of survival seems to be in following Anselmo’s exhortations to the maelstrom’s heart. The band’s love of horror is writ large over the creeping instrumental Microbes, which feels like it was composed for a Dario Argento movie, before Subprime (50% evil at 3:33 in length) once more lunges in the direction of Emperor, all hyper-speed guitars and blackened grunts. Yet, for all the ferocity, there is melody here and, once again, the band imbue this most unforgiving of tracks with the laser-guided scorn that served the likes of Satyricon so well on efforts such as The Age Of Nero.
Black is the work of musicians united in their love for extreme metal and their passion is the defining feature of this intense, six-track effort. Of course, at the heart of it all is Philip H. Anselmo, a divisive figure in metal whose utter dedication to music is beyond question. His performance here is simply inhuman, and it frequently seems that his talented band is having to stay on their game just to maintain pace. Ultimately, Black serves as an homage to the bands that inspired its creators – a visceral blast that sees filthy grind, unholy black metal and horror movie influence all thrown into a blender, and the results are impressive indeed. 8.5/10
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