When metalcore came along at the turn of the century to wash away the juvenile dross of nu-metal there was much rejoicing. After all, what could go wrong with bands delivering their own interpretation of Slaughter of the Soul’s legacy? Quite a lot in fact as the scene quickly reached saturation point with a seemingly endless parade of silly-haired whippersnappers recycling the same old riffs and same tired themes.
Orange County quintet Scars of Tomorrow never ascended above the D-grade despite releasing five albums in as many years on Victory Records between 2002 and 2006. After originally disbanding in 2007, they have reformed and recorded a new album, Failed Transmissions (Artery). The question is, if they weren’t good enough when the scene was in full swing what relevance do they have now?
The answer is none.
Absence has not made the heart grow fonder and Scars of Tomorrow have not learnt any lessons in their time off. They are still ploughing the exact same furrow they had exhausted of all resources back in 2006, offering up a thoroughly generic and uninspiring selection of Norma Jean-aping riffs combined with the odd It Dies Today-esque melodic flourish and of course, breakdown after goddamn breakdown in case you had forgotten that metalcore bands of this ilk wish they were tough enough to be part of the hardcore scene.
Featuring no memorable, heartstring-tugging choruses, riffs of any power, presence or anything approaching their own identity, the existence of this record is a mystery, for it serves no purpose. Metalcore is dead and buried, the kids have moved on to new and fresher things, and the members of Scars of Tomorrow should be devoting their time into producing music with half an ounce of relevance to today and not just assuming that a half-hour rehash of their old sound will be enough after so long away.
Utterly pointless and shockingly complacent.
3.0/10.0
JAMES CONWAY