Avsky - 'Scorn'

A crushingly heavy black metal album that demonstrates a vast improvement in Avsky.

Avsky have grown by leaps and bounds over the course of their short, three-album career. Starting as a more or less run of the mill raw black metal outfit on 2007’s Mass Destruction, Avsky’s second album Malignant demonstrated an improvement in songwriting. However, Avsky still hadn’t managed to stand out amongst the hordes of similar acts. All that should change with Scorn, as the album is an absolute scorcher.

First off, Scorn is devastatingly heavy as Avsky greatly benefit from a huge, thick production. The guitars are gigantic, and, sort of going with my gut here, I get the impression that Avsky have been listening to lots of old Hellhammer and Celtic Frost of late.

Simple riffs with great heft are everywhere on Scorn, yet the catchy songwriting masterfully weaves together the riffs with well placed tempo changes. Good examples are the first two songs in particular, “As The Mountains Collapse” and “No Compassion, No Regrets,” a great song with an infectious riff. Alternating between mid-paced dirges and all out blasts; Avsky’s improved songwriting becomes obvious with repeated listens.

Scorn does let up about midway through, though, with a short acoustic piece entitled “The Beyond.” The piece is just long enough for you to catch your breath until the devastation resumes, although the album’s closer, “The Sickness Within” does end on an acoustic note, as well. These slight touches provide a nice counterweight to the album’s overall heaviness.

In short, Scorn is an impressive example of black metal, and will easily fit right in to your collection. Recommended.

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.