Review by Alex on November 7, 2019.

That place which held hope and purpose for humanity is no more, now burned and buried by and with the pest; this devolved species has shrunk beyond redemption and will remain without. Once at the peak and helm of scientific breakthroughs only to fall before the traps set by brainwashed spooks and false doctrines, the creature finds itself surrounded by inescapable hazards, specters and imminent death. How does one push so close to rational superiority, only to regress in accepting enfeeblement through laziness and irresponsibility. To be reborn, to evade accountability, live-out lies and look to the fucking skies; what comes crashing through the atmosphere is not the answer you were hoping for, rather the stroke of silence long overdue.

Kosmokrator is the artist behind this nihilistic portrait reflecting the doom and bloodshed he brings; thou have asked, thus it has been granted. The imaginary figure immortalized brings only perish, salvation has never held province in his house. Let it be a grim warning to the organism emerging from rape, after the tears of punishment have dried and the ashes of pity have been lost to the wind, that none take up the spoils of the desert and coronate it.

Kosmokrator welcomes the destruction and spares no breath, the sacrifices made during the "Push Towards Daath"; a chance to grasp at the precipice of knowledge, true enlightenment to be found at the base of the abyss, the most unlikely of places, yet not nearly enough acquired to steer mankind from the 'Ruins' of backward philosophies; or was it ignorance and complacency that encouraged the fateful fumble? The vision, the prophecy, destined to erupt from a cursed chasm would spill-over into reality; the Belgian black/death metal army, marches to the sounds of destruction they trumpet. Lands ravaged by a stringed scythe, cauterized by bellows abyssal, bruised by drums and bass brutish and projected clearly through a mix and master flawless to the ignis fatuus of Timo Ketola.

Chaos represented by aid of instrumental poetry, Through Ruin... Behold, ('Irreversible Pathways', 'I Am the utterance of My Name' and 'Gestorben Muss Sein' etc.) the collective of glib yet chaotic verses offering more than the average surface value black/death metal, yields some insight stemming from the chakras comprising the tree of life; put together between 2013 and 2018, Kosmokrator swamps the universe in a void of fright and peril. What a magnificent way to make your debuting full-length mark among others that have put out highlighting records in 2019, also carrying the Belgian flag proudly for black/death metal. Genuinely thespian the way Through Ruin... Behold is setup and plays, like an adventure of some significance being unraveled by music never missing a key period or moment in traversing chapters. Acceleration and deceleration implemented at critical instances to give account in dynamic differentiation and surprises thrown at the listener. One session leads to another, and another, and another, and so it carries-on without becoming bland or wearisome.

Not much more I could have asked for from a debut full length black/death metal record considering how easy it is to get brushed aside in an overpopulated genre. Your longevity relies on the ability to take risks executed in a fashion that appeals to the listener without damaging the centerpiece of your craft. To The Svmmit, then First Step Towards Supremacy to the current effort tells of a band on a mission to achieve supremacy indeed. Through Ruin... Behold is a massive concretion of black/death metal sublimity.

Rating: 9.2 out of 10

Review by Rocky on September 27, 2020.

The Scottish death metal band Scordatura will release their new album, Mass Failure on September 25th. The LP is the third studio album by the quartet and will be released under the Gore House Productions label. Initially, those who might be unaware of it should know that their drummer, Tam Moran, is possibly the main conductor of this band and their butchering death metal insanity. Further, Moran, with his style, shows that he isn’t only a drummer, but always makes a strong contribution with other instruments for the overall song structures. As with many other technical or trigger-sounding drums by many other acts, the drummer, most of the time, takes up the whole song with drumming, rather than being a significant part of the whole process. Here, Moran's incorporation of funk influences with traditional groove, all while balancing speed, groove and technique, gets the necessary depth. These butchers of Scordatura play their brutal death metal as a coherent force, being able to successfully create releases like six demos, one EP, and three full-lengths since their inception in 2005.

Whereas most brutal death metal bands in these modern times tend to release many full-lengths and engage in heavy tours, Scordatura takes the classic and traditional path of releasing lots of demos and keeps engaging their followers with full, livelier, and rawer atmospheric songs; they don't white-wash their followers with synthetics or over-produced sounds, which all sound similar. This also explains how they sound so powerful, imposing, and yet coherent. Across nine tracks, in less than 35 minutes, these traits will be evident with tracks like ‘Disease Of Mind’, ‘Nothing But Dust’, ‘Contorted Existence’, ‘The Flesh That Hates’, and ‘Collapse Of Humanity’. Even though the press termed it as ‘brutal death metal,’ in reality, it’s very hard to put them in any specific genre, and it would not be too much to say that the Scots play death, black, thrash, groove, funk, and jazz - where everything crammed into one becomes 34 minutes of sheer blasting, maddening brutality. There is no doubt that Mass Failure was built over the strongest elements from the group’s sophomore album, Self-Created Abyss. The outcome is best defined where you’re pissed off or enraged enough to cause destruction, and, with the imposing vocal delivery (or gut wrenching!) by Daryl Boyce and flesh ripping guitar tonality from Owen McKendrick guitar, there is something for everybody within this release.

With album art by Mark Erskine of Erskine Designs (Display of Decay, Hideous Divinity, Irreversible Mechanism), Mass Failure was recorded, mixed and mastered by Samuel Turbitt at Ritual Studios (Inebrious Incarnate, Ageless Oblivion, Unfathomable Ruination). Despite most of their contemporaries who are littered their lyrics about gore and rape, the Scots seem to be inspired by real-life chaos, corruption, disorder and existential crisis, which can be played in the cramped venues in Glasgow, and whose death metal onslaught will managed to get a respectable pit going early on. If genre staples like, "Liege of Inveracity", "Effigy of the Forgotten", "None So Vile', "Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas", 'A Skeletal Domain", "King of All Kings", "The Vile Conception" and "Sedition" make you sweat drenched and always pleased, then Scordatura shall take their place in your death metal playlist for a long while.

Rating: 8 out of 10

Review by Rocky on September 27, 2020.

The Scottish death metal band Scordatura will release their new album, Mass Failure on September 25th. The LP is the third studio album by the quartet and will be released under the Gore House Productions label. Initially, those who might be unaware of it should know that their drummer, Tam Moran, is possibly the main conductor of this band and their butchering death metal insanity. Further, Moran, with his style, shows that he isn’t only a drummer, but always makes a strong contribution with other instruments for the overall song structures. As with many other technical or trigger-sounding drums by many other acts, the drummer, most of the time, takes up the whole song with drumming, rather than being a significant part of the whole process. Here, Moran's incorporation of funk influences with traditional groove, all while balancing speed, groove and technique, gets the necessary depth. These butchers of Scordatura play their brutal death metal as a coherent force, being able to successfully create releases like six demos, one EP, and three full-lengths since their inception in 2005.

Whereas most brutal death metal bands in these modern times tend to release many full-lengths and engage in heavy tours, Scordatura takes the classic and traditional path of releasing lots of demos and keeps engaging their followers with full, livelier, and rawer atmospheric songs; they don't white-wash their followers with synthetics or over-produced sounds, which all sound similar. This also explains how they sound so powerful, imposing, and yet coherent. Across nine tracks, in less than 35 minutes, these traits will be evident with tracks like ‘Disease Of Mind’, ‘Nothing But Dust’, ‘Contorted Existence’, ‘The Flesh That Hates’, and ‘Collapse Of Humanity’. Even though the press termed it as ‘brutal death metal,’ in reality, it’s very hard to put them in any specific genre, and it would not be too much to say that the Scots play death, black, thrash, groove, funk, and jazz - where everything crammed into one becomes 34 minutes of sheer blasting, maddening brutality. There is no doubt that Mass Failure was built over the strongest elements from the group’s sophomore album, Self-Created Abyss. The outcome is best defined where you’re pissed off or enraged enough to cause destruction, and, with the imposing vocal delivery (or gut wrenching!) by Daryl Boyce and flesh ripping guitar tonality from Owen McKendrick guitar, there is something for everybody within this release.

With album art by Mark Erskine of Erskine Designs (Display of Decay, Hideous Divinity, Irreversible Mechanism), Mass Failure was recorded, mixed and mastered by Samuel Turbitt at Ritual Studios (Inebrious Incarnate, Ageless Oblivion, Unfathomable Ruination). Despite most of their contemporaries who are littered their lyrics about gore and rape, the Scots seem to be inspired by real-life chaos, corruption, disorder and existential crisis, which can be played in the cramped venues in Glasgow, and whose death metal onslaught will managed to get a respectable pit going early on. If genre staples like, "Liege of Inveracity", "Effigy of the Forgotten", "None So Vile', "Informis Infinitas Inhumanitas", 'A Skeletal Domain", "King of All Kings", "The Vile Conception" and "Sedition" make you sweat drenched and always pleased, then Scordatura shall take their place in your death metal playlist for a long while.

Rating: 8 out of 10