{"id":23422,"date":"2014-08-29T00:00:51","date_gmt":"2014-08-29T00:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=23422"},"modified":"2015-01-27T15:44:10","modified_gmt":"2015-01-27T15:44:10","slug":"album-review-scar-for-life-worlds-entwined","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/album-review-scar-for-life-worlds-entwined\/","title":{"rendered":"SCAR FOR LIFE – Worlds Entwined (2014) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCAR FOR LIFE
Worlds Entwined<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nEscape Music (2014)<\/span>
Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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Scar For Life is the brainchild of Portuguese guitarist Alexandre Santos, who began this venture back in 2008 and recorded the self-titled debut platter that very same year. Two years later the It All Fades Away<\/em> follow-up emerged, although original vocalist Marco Resende would soon flee the ranks. He was replaced for the band\u2019s 2012 opus, 3 Minute Silence<\/em>, by Leonel Silva who has since been replaced by Rob Mancini for this, the band\u2019s fourth episode. <\/p>\n

With numerous line-up changes one would have thought that such alterations would have dogged any sort of natural progression for the band, but with Worlds Entwined<\/em> Santos and crew has delivered a high and mighty metal album of some worth. <\/p>\n

The 12-track piece also features Teen Asty on bass and Jo\u00e3o Cola\u00e7o on drums, while former Dio \/ Black Sabbath<\/a> legend Vinny Appice also makes a guest appearance (on \u2018Thirteen Revolution\u2019). However, there are many reasons to listen to this rockin\u2019 opus outside of Appice\u2019s appearance. For a start, there\u2019s the molten metal guitar sound of Santos which sews this record together; providing chunks of stout riffage from the off with the doomy thrash juggernaut that is \u2018Thirteen Revolution\u2019, which for me is one of the heaviest tracks I\u2019ve heard from anyone this decade. <\/p>\n

Vocally, Mancini is a true monster too; his sneering drool is versatile and initially ominous until he readily slips into a soulful croon, before reverting back to that vicious snarl. With a catchy chorus and fluent percussion, \u2018Thirteen Revolution\u2019 is an absolute gem to kick-start this record; the track chugging like a steady beast hell-bent on revenge, it gradually takes a sideways step to allow Santos\u2019 leads to breath, but once that metallic chug is back you\u2019ll be nodding along, infected by that joyous trudge. Up next is the tremendous \u2018Because I Can\u2019, which glimmers with heaps of melody and showcases the versatility of the combo in the sense that at first it\u2019s a softer drive before it once again takes on a driving power metal surge.<\/p>\n

My only issue here is that although Mancini has a nice smooth voice, it does often play second fiddle to the general metal madness this opus churns out in the guitar department. I\u2019d much rather hear a singer belting it out in a powerful manner, whereas Mancini basically goes from a smooth croon to an only slighter, weightier tone. This suggests a limit to range which, although fluid, seems a tad mismatched in comparison to what\u2019s going on around him. Even so, each tracks flows with such efficiency that it becomes something akin to liquid gold as on the likes of \u2018Judgement Day\u2019 and \u2018Vendetta\u2019, but for me there are times when Mancini does struggle. This is especially apparent on \u2018Disconnected\u2019, which surely demands a more powerful voice to be applied to such ascending rhythms. <\/p>\n

One cannot knock the want of trying though, and of course Santos\u2019 staggering solo work and general monstrous performance which enables Worlds Entwined<\/em> to be a weighty yet smooth heavy metal experience \u2013 one which boasts big enough melodies (\u2018Fire And Flame\u2019), some gorgeous harmonies (\u2018Wish You Well Tonight\u2019) and above all, a dark-edged potency (\u2018Worlds Entwined\u2019) to keep you mesmerised.<\/p>\n

Neil Arnold<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCAR FOR LIFEWorlds Entwined Escape Music (2014)Rating: 8\/10 Scar For Life is the brainchild of Portuguese guitarist Alexandre Santos, who began this venture back in 2008 and recorded the self-titled debut platter that very same year. Two years later the It All Fades Away follow-up emerged, although original vocalist Marco Resende would soon flee the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1615],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23422","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-scar-for-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23422","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23422"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23422\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23426,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23422\/revisions\/23426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23422"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23422"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23422"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}