Scythe - Season of the Tall Pines

Scythe - Season of the Tall Pines
Year - 2010
Label - Witches Brew

Season of the Tall Pines is this German band's fourth album and it sees the band continue to progress along the path set by their debut, On My Way Home a decade ago. The band still ply their quite unique brand of doom metal and continue to evolve with every new album.

Season of the Tall Pines is at its most basic level, doom metal but its also a lot more. The band has done a terrific job evolving but one listen to album opener Vast Lands of Mist and you know this is the same band that released On My Way Home. The riffs are still huge, the melodic guitar parts still beautiful, Norman's voice is as distinctive as ever and the songs are wrapped in melancholy. It's as the album moves forward with the title song, Reconsidering and Distress that Scythe really turn it up a notch. The songs have these great heavy riffs and a mid paced tempo but the band write catchy off kilter songs that stick in your head with some complex musicianship and at times remind me of what Norway's Atrox might sound like if they decided to go all doom particularly on Distress with its keyboard touches and chuggy riffing. Abandoned Places closes out the album in style with a super opening riff, a long spaced out quiet section in the middle and some excellent growling from Sven as the song goes from soft to heavy and back and forth superbly.

Scythe isn't for everybody. They've been a bit of an acquired taste since Poetry of Illusions and this album is no different. The band pushes the boundaries of doom metal with their often complex but also melodic extreme metal and at various times on this album they reminded me of atrox, tangerine dream, killing joke and paradise lost but while always sounding like Scythe. If you're up for some inventive doom metal and are not looking for instant gratification then Scythe must be on your radar. Season of the Tall Pines might just be the band's best album yet.