When “Egypt” and “Death Metal” are used in the same sentence, most devout Extreme Metal fans’ minds (naturally) go to a specific band. While I can’t confirm (or deny) who came up with the idea to create sonic and lyrical content focused on ancient Egyptian mythology, I can confirm that Scarab’s roots run deeper than <redacted>, as the 20+ year act hails from Cairo, Egypt.
Scarab’s latest release, and first after 6+ years, is an EP entitled ‘Transmutation of Fate’. The songs total just under 28 minutes in length and are at a high level characterized as Death Metal with Technical, Brutal and Progressive elements. Specifically, these 4 songs have very dense arrangements with many layers, including choral style voices, keys, percussion and layers of guitar.
The Death Metal spine of this EP can be likened to something like Aeon or early Behemoth, christened wholly by those dense additions not unlike how Dimmu Borgir or Old Man’s Child utilizes symphonic elements. I found that my favorite bit of this release was the blend of everything all together. The symphonic keys and additional voices were not overpowering and the guitars were not too present.
This is certainly not a passive listen and requires the listener’s attention to follow the story that the band tells throughout the 4 songs. Though I can’t place it, there is something to be left from a production perspective, perhaps more low end presence across the board could have added some power to the sound behind the multi layered approach to Scarab’s songwriting. Despite how dense this is, I think the mild flatness makes it tough to find anything overtly memorable or worth returning to, but when the mood strikes for this style of Death Metal, Scarab will certainly scratch the itch.
