Scour is one of the many projects spearheaded by long time metal veteran Phil Anselmo, who really needs no introduction.. I mean come on....
With him are members of Cattle Decapitation and Pig Destroyer, making them somewhat of a “supergroup”, which seems to be what any band Phil starts gets called.

This is a bit of a new direction for Anselmo however, steering clear of his usual wheel house of Down’s groove and the nu-metal hodgepodge that is Superjoint Ritual. Apparently he’s into Black Metal now. So let’s talk about the record.

Scour’s Red EP is a hail to Black Metal with a heavy overtone of Grindcore, blast beats and treble picking galore, as black metal should be, topped with vocals that range from a demon lord sentencing your damnation to the shrill rip of a burning witch. These guys definitely did their homework and executed it rather well.

Red kicks off the EP with four hits until utter pandemonium, and I like how they get right to the point and don’t drag out their songs. The flow of the material is rather good, and the instrumentation is tight as a Swiss watch.

However this is a little too well produced for Black Metal if you ask me. Before long I felt like this was a less glittery and tougher Cradle of Filth. They don’t rip solos too often, but once again, too polished when they do. My notions were sealed when they dropped an unnecessary keyboard instrumental 3/4’s into the recording. Seeing that this isn’t the usual vibe for any of the members other bands, I’m interested to see if they get closer to the mark in coming releases.

Overall, I say these cats did a good job and this was a well done piece of music. If you want to get into real, gritty, abrasive Black Metal a la Void Spawn, Leviathan, Pissgrave and Burzum, this is an excellent starting point. However long time fans of the type of bands I just named might find something to be desired.