A few months back, I ran into Mark Kloeppel, one of the guitarists for Misery Index, and Missouri act Cast The Stone, Ive ‘known’ him and fellow Cast The Stone member Derek Engemann from various shows I’ve attended in St Loius over the years.

We got to talking about Scour, the black metal band he and fellow Misery Index-ite Adam Jarvis joined in 2017, and while I was familiar with the black metal project fronted by Pantera’s Phil Anselmo in 2o15 with ex-Pig Destroyer, current Agoraphobic Nosebleed bassist John Jarvis, I can’t say their handful of color named EPs releases has blown me away and seemed more gimmicky than anything

And when I discussed this revelation with Kloeppel, he cautioned me that the debut full-length was a different beast and was going to be a real scorcher of an album, that some folks won’t be ready for.

He was fucking right.

Anselmo has dabbled in black metal before with Christ Inversion and Viking Crown, but neither project lasted long or was impactful. But holy fucking shit, has he and this lineup peaked and come together finally to deliver a simply vicious black metal album that puts Scour on the map, as a truly elite band in the black metal genre.

With a full-on, absolutely blistering Black Metal visage (and skin-peeling master from Jens Bogren) and intensity akin to Marduk, Dark Funeral, and such, with some occasional Southern swampiness, Gold is 37 minutes of sonic annihilation the likes I haven’t heard since Anaal Nathrakh‘s, debut or Rage Nucléaire‘s Unrelenting Fucking Hatred.

9 short, sharp songs (and three interludes) in 37 apocalyptic minutes, the assault starts with the snarling “Cross” and ends with “Serve”, and in between there is very little respite. Those respites come amid the torrid black metal, with some slicing melody or leads ( “Infusorium”, “Serve”),  some ‘Southern’, Goatwhore-ish grooves (“Coin”, “Invoke”, “Gold”) or a trio of interludes I could have done without (“Ornaments”, “Contaminated”, “Angels”). But for the most part the likes of “Blades”, “Evil”, “Devil” and “Hell” are Marduk-ian levels of perfect, sheer, black metal ferocity, that will leave unsuspecting listeners in awe. And without a face.

Anselmo sounds great too, even though when watching the videos is weird seeing him screech like that, his menacing bellows and spoken words are a little more expected. Either way, he has assembled a perfect cast, and after Scour’s 10 years in existence, (and 30 years of his own dabbling), delivered a master class of seething Scandinavian Black Metal.

[Visit the band's website]

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