:: Scars Of Tomorrow - The Failure In Drowning

Scars Of Tomorrow

In as little as five years, Orange County (California) metalcore act Scars Of Tomorrow has released no less than four full-length albums, with the last two emerging within the last twelve months (2005’s ‘The Horror Of Realization’ through Victory Records, and Thorp Records’ compilation (Of their first two albums) ‘The Beginning Of’ from earlier in the year). Returning with an entirely new line-up (comprising vocalist Mike Milford, who is the sole original member remaining in the band, guitarist/vocalist Joey Atkins, guitarist Kevin Fifield, bassist Mike Boccuzzi and drummer Justin Salinas, although former drummer Ryan Severino is credited as playing on the album), Scars Of Tomorrow return with their fifth full-length release ‘The Failure In Drowning’, and sadly things are somewhat regressive and uninspired sounding. Although sticking well within metalcore’s strict confines, Scars Of Tomorrow was slowly progressing and evolving with every new release, with ‘The Horror Of Realization’ providing some really interesting moments. ‘The Failure In Drowning’ on the other hand sees the band stripping away the more experimental elements of their former sound, and in doing so, fall into line with almost every other metalcore act under the sun. In a little under three minutes, the opening track ‘Lost In The Moment’ has Scars Of Tomorrow pulling out every cliché associated with the metalcore scene of late (Numerous breakdowns, growled choruses balanced against clean sung choruses and generic riff structures that lack any real individual character), which makes the song ultimately bland and forgettable. And it’s not the only track on the album to suffer from the same problem either, as the vast majority of the album seems to drift from song to song, without so much as a departure from the same tired songwriting formula of the opening number. Adding to album’s woes is the production from Eric Rachel (Who’s previous credits include The Black Dahlia Murder, God Forbid, Hatebreed). Sounding a little too polished, ‘The Failure In Drowning’ lacks any real bite (Especially when compared to the band’s last release), which only adds to the feeling that the songs tend to blur from one to the other, with little or no change evident. While ‘The Unwinding’ (The first promotional video filmed from the album), ‘The Wandering’, ‘Nashville’ and ‘The Untold Truth’ do have their moments, there are nowhere near enough of them to save this album from sounding too safe and formulated. After showing some promise on ‘The Horror Of Realisation’, ‘The Failure In Drowning’ is nothing but a huge disappointment.