{"id":6670,"date":"2012-09-10T00:00:20","date_gmt":"2012-09-10T00:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/?p=6670"},"modified":"2013-06-01T14:29:03","modified_gmt":"2013-06-01T14:29:03","slug":"ep-review-scythia-for-the-bear","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/ep-review-scythia-for-the-bear\/","title":{"rendered":"SCYTHIA – For The Bear EP (2012) | Album \/ EP Reviews @ Metal Forces Magazine"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCYTHIA
For The Bear EP<\/strong><\/span>
\n\"\"
\nSelf-released (2012)<\/span>
Rating: 6\/10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/td>\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n
\n
<\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

For The Bear<\/em> is the latest EP from Canadian folk metallers Scythia. The band have released two full albums, a Christmas single, and now an EP in their short history and with each new release they evolve in spades.<\/p>\n

For The Bear<\/em> features two new songs, three remixes, a cover of \u2018Mattawa Reel\u2019 and… ummmm… a medley of video game music that spans the last 20 years (which admittedly sounds a little like Weird Al Yankovic to me). <\/p>\n

Let\u2019s start with the centrepiece here, the title track. This is easily one of the, if not the singular best, songs Scythia have offered up so far. Musically, it bounces and headbangs its way through some of the best dark, mid-winter, ale-drinking bar sounds ever put to audio. It feels like a Viking barfight… or at least what I imagine one to have felt like. It has an animal rights pinning to it as well that helps separate the band from the myriad of folk metal offerings out there today. Lyrically, it reminds me in a small way of Tourniquet\u2019s classic \u2018Ark Of Suffering\u2019 (originally featured on 1990 debut Stop The Bleeding<\/em>).<\/p>\n

The other new song here is \u2018Sailor\u2019s Accolade\u2019. The song kicks off the EP with a heavier edge that is way more aggressive vocally than many of the band\u2019s other tunes. If these two songs are any indication of what\u2019s to come, then Scythia will be moving up the food chain with their next album.<\/p>\n

The remixes here are nice as well. The band\u2019s calling card, \u2018Fierce Rider Of Scythia\u2019, \u2018Black Death\u2019 and \u2018Dies Irae Pt. 1\u2019 are all from the band\u2019s 2010 debut \u2026Of War<\/em>. The whole album would benefit from a remix and these songs prove it. That said, other than sounding better, they are the same and in that respect come off as filler. The cover of \u2018Mattawa Reel\u2019 (an instrumental) sounds great, with its bombastic charge and head-bobbing sound. As stated before, the video game medley that ends the EP seems goofy to me, but in gaming circles it\u2019s likely tremendously cool, so I\u2019ll reserve judgement on that one.<\/p>\n

Overall, this is a fun EP. Would I have preferred to have heard five entirely new songs? Definitely. \u2018Sailor\u2019s Accolade\u2019 and \u2018For The Bear\u2019 are great though and they more than whet your appetite for what comes next, and I\u2019m guessing that\u2019s the primary purpose here. Top it all off with spectacular cover art and you have a good EP with some great moments.<\/p>\n

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

SCYTHIAFor The Bear EP Self-released (2012)Rating: 6\/10 For The Bear is the latest EP from Canadian folk metallers Scythia. The band have released two full albums, a Christmas single, and now an EP in their short history and with each new release they evolve in spades. For The Bear features two new songs, three remixes, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,333],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-album-ep-reviews","category-scythia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670","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=6670"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12034,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6670\/revisions\/12034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.metalforcesmagazine.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}