That’s what bassist Otto of Sweden-based Metal outfit Scarred put in the subject line when he sent us the link to their stuff. Hm, strange, I suspect someone has been leaking about my prime interest in life. That being not the sexy part, not the Metal part and certainly not the Swedish part. Yes sir, it’s the bacon part, greasy strings of pig fat and dead meat. Otto must know this, but unfortunately his trick – which he pulled mid-December – to lure me in to check out their stuff resulted in a bacon binge eating session from which I’ve only just recovered. Close but no cigar!

With some delay though, I’ve just started playing some Scarred tunes and I like what I’m hearing. The band is sorely lacking professionalism in terms of recording and shit, but I like the concepts. The band pulls in influences from all over Metal and Rock and ends up spitting a flavor of Metal / Hard Rock that has groove as its prime ingredient. More importantly, their music sounds honest and I have no fuckin’ clue why. It’s just so obviously a bunch of guys in an old shed trying to have a bit of fun and maybe not realizing that they’re actually pretty good. I sincerely hope these guys will put together their life savings soon and spend it all on a proper recording session and professional mastering, if they haven’t already. That’s going to create hot shit!

Can’t sort you out with an embedded song this time, so instead pay the band a visit on Facebook for some tunes. Have fun!

A couple of months ago we published an interview with France’s Arkan, which was taken by Kilik2049. In reality Kilik2049 is called Simon and he is one of the two guitarists / vocalists in a beginning French band based out of Le Mans – yes, that’s where they do those 24-hour races. The band’s called Blind Tears and they do a grungy piece of Doom Metal. And of course we’re happy to return the favor and give them some air time.

They’ve got a collection of twelve songs out that they’ve titled First Tears. Catchy! It’s not all up to standards yet and the recording quality is poor, but it’s clear the band has some interesting ideas they’re working on. They’re mixing a very classic Metal feel with depressing darkness and doom elements. Sabbath and Iron Maiden are the most apparent influences and these then are mixed with fifty cans of bleach and fifty more of tar.

Tumblr really seems to be the new way to find bands. Although it’s mostly filled with porn, posers and goths, with which most of us wouldn’t have a problem, there are some treasures to be found. Like todays Fractals, who play a Deathcore-influenced kind of Technical Death Metal. This three-piece from Britain released their debut album Paradox on Bandcamp in May 2011 and it seems to be very promising.

Paradox consists of eleven songs and is about 35 minutes long. There are some really short songs and some really long songs, which makes it an interesting listen. The music itself has a bit of an electronic feel to it, which is mainly due to the programmed drums and the really tight and sterile way of playing these guys have. Perhaps the best way of describing the music is by the definition of their name. A fractal is “An irregular geometric object that is self-similar to its substructure at any level of refinement.” Don’t ask me what self-similar and substructure mean, but they are most definitely irregular and geometric.

This is just a band I came across by chance. “In the year 2009 a mighty oath took place beneath the ancient skies of Budapest. A warband was formed, a formidable group of warriors, whose only concern is world domination!” Just quoting the band on their formation last year and it seems they take quite the epic approach.

After Mytra yesterday, Scéal is another Metal band from Hungary, purely coincidental. The band, consisting of five young lads with beards and long hair still has to make a name for itself, but if I listen to the first rough work from their first demo, I do note some great potential!