Tales of the Sacrosanct Man
Cult of Scarecrow
•
October 12, 2021
CULT OF THE SCARECROW delivers an excellently produced and well polished embodiment of doom in their latest album "Tales of the Sacrosanct Man". Half of the band members hail from the Belgian 90's thrash metal band DIE SINNER DIE. Recently reunited almost 20 years later they released the well received self-titled EP "Cult of the Scarecrow" in 2018 and now follow up with a full length album to deliver the knock-out punch fans have been eagerly waiting for.
The track "Sacrosanct men" introduces the album with eerie samples of children at play and a chilling dreary melody soon begins to play. Right off the bat I could tell it was going to be a well produced and enjoyable experience and I was not left disappointed. The drums take up a rhythmic and pounding beat whilst the guitars intermittently weave from clean to distorted tones pulling the listener into a pulsing ritual of worship of the Scarecrow. The leads are very tasteful and consist of bend happy pentatonic licks topped with pinch harmonic perfection. Filip De Wilde's sultry and smooth clean vocals express a nonchalant and cooler than cool sermon of revelation. It sets the pace of the album's heavy and ominous vibe leaving you begging for more.
One of my favorite songs on the album is "Robotized". Featuring crunchy and just plain nasty thrash riffs it's definitely one of the heaviest songs on "Tales of the Sacrosanct Man". There are awesome gang vocals that inject waves of nostalgia laden endorphins straight into your brain. Add on top of that driving bass grooves and a shredding guitar solo which starts off thrashy and melts into a melodious grace of destructive annihilation, and you have yourself a hell of a tune. The song's lyrics discuss the mechanization of society and how all our thoughts and behaviors are programmed by our evil overseers. Expressing that somewhere along the way we've lost touch with our humanity and the first step to regaining it is the recognition that things are not as they should be. This song is anthemic in its execution and would be absolutely mind blowing to see performed live.
The next song I'd like to highlight is "Doorkicker03". It starts with someone tuning a radio dial to different stations (When was the last time you did that? Haha we are too old.) another mark of an excellent producer and well seasoned audio engineer. Foreboding crunchy guitars and booming bass then groove their way into the scene accompanied by the sparkly arpeggios of keys before going into some chunky riffage with rests in between to nicely contrast the harmonious vocals into the spotlight. It further breaks down into some sweet grooves and yet another epic solo. Their experience really shines through in everything they do, knowing exactly when to showcase their individual talents and when to pull back to let the beauty of the music shine through.
Overall this is a killer album that just emanates awesomeness out of every note. Do yourself a favor and give it a listen now and be sure to follow CULT OF THE SCARECROW on all their socials to keep up with their latest concerts and releases. I already have so what are you waiting for?!
10 / 10
Masterpiece
Songwriting
Musicianship
Memorability
Production
"Tales of the Sacrosanct Man" Track-listing:
1. Sacrosanct Me
2. Lazarus
3. Robotized
4. Pitch-black
5. Doorkicker03
6. This Blood's for You
7. Sameness
8. Own Worst Enemy
Cult of Scarecrow Lineup:
Gunther "Gunny" Poppe - Bass
Jan "Jay" Van Der Poorten - Guitars
Ivan De Strooper - Guitars
Nico Regelbrugge - Drums
Filip De Wilde - Vocals
Robbie Eelbode - Keyboards
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