Review: Scary Hours - Symptoms of Modern Hegemony

Label: Pyrrhic Victory Recordings

I like it, when musicians name bands who directly influenced their own sound. The lyric sheet from SCARY HOUR's new album "Symptoms of Modern Hegemony" comes with liner notes and in these liner notes lead singer Ryan Struck names some famous bands that inspired him to write the the music for the respective song. From Metal-heavyweights like SLAYER and METALLICA to modern Metalcore-acts like KNOCKED LOOSE, from GLASSJAW and THURSDAY to RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE and F-MINUS, the scope is pretty wide...

If you take a look at Struck's past, you get the feeling that his taste in music has to be quite diverse. SCARY HOURS basically started out as his "Anti-Folk"-solo-project before developing into a full HC-band. On their 2020-album "Margins" they stuck their heads into the "Mallcore" of the early 2000s and combined this kind of style with a straight and pissed, yet melodic HC/Punk-sound reminiscent of PAINT IT BLACK. 

New album, new luck, and it seems like a lot has changed for SCARY HOURS. It's not like they totally broke with their sound, but they shifted around some corners, to ultimately create a different listening experience. Metal(core) and especially Thrash Metal are way more important on "Symptoms of Modern Hegemony". Other elements, like the 2000's Post-Hardcore-stuff or the No-Bullshit-HC are still present, either in small parts or in entire songs, but as a whole the sound got meaner and heavier. From chugga chugga to thrashy riffs, from massively downtuned guitars to brutal breakdowns, from Sweden-esque guitar playing to over-the-top screaming the brutal, metallic site of things is cleary in the focus.

There's a breather in the middle of the album, in the form of a 1-minute-long Hip-Hop-instrumental, but other than that it's neckbreaker after neckbreaker. Personally I could've gone for more rests, just like on the predecessor, but maybe I just got too soft over the years. That being said, there's two things I truly appreciate about "Symptoms of Modern Hegemony". First it's the overwhelming energy, the intensity and the No-Bullshit-attitude that suck you in with the first riffs of "Suffer Peacefully" and won't let go until the end. Struck and company are more than passionate about their music! 

The other thing I like is that this record feels and sounds pretty oldschool and straight-forward. A long time ago the first few bands tried to couple Hardcore/Punk and Metal and the whole thing got its worthy progressions and then eventually commercialized. Over the years more and more crap got crammed into it and it totally diluted. "Symptoms of Modern Hegemony" feels like the pure version of "HC/Punk meets Metal" and that's kinda refreshing. You don't get thousand breaks within a song thrown at you, you don't get any Post-whatever-stuff or whiny Emo-vocals or other artsy-fartsy bullshit. Despite all the namedropping at the beginning, SCARY HOURS stay surprisingly true to their core-sound and run with it for 33 straight minutes. while always cherishing their love for both, Hardcore and Metal. If you can identify with this attitude and this approach, then this album is for you.

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