There’s no denying that Evil Scarecrow reside in a niche market. A bit too weird for standard metal; not Scandinavian enough for symphonic metal; and not lathered in quite enough face-paint for black metal, yet they are as much of one as they are the other. Now on their third album, the release of Galactic Hunt has done little to refine their stance, coming in as bizarre and sophisticated as ever, but still they hover over a mishmash of extreme musical borders. And for that, we salute them.
Excusing the intro, opening track ‘Rise’ kicks in first with some relative normality. It’s got pace, precision, and character, provoking unmistakeable comparisons to Children of Bodom throughout the 2.5 minute onslaught. Some sludge is then added to ‘Galacticus’ to drop the tone, leaving behind the pacey riffs and journeying into darker, Dimmu Borgir-esque territory.
The album gets a bit weird towards the core, particularly during the ridiculous creation of ‘Crabulon’ and the rather lacklustre ‘Book of Doom’. These aspects of their music are unique, but distinctly polarising, and if it wasn’t for the return of the classic Bodom-bits in ‘End Level Boss’, the album could easily have swerved off in the wrong direction.
‘Flight of the Dragon’ is perhaps the most interesting pick of the bunch. While sailing the Viking metal ship, they also manage to bring the commercial side of metal on board, and that smoothes the rough edges off their brand.
On Galactic Hunt, Evil Scarecrow have made no attempt to please the masses. They are aware of their unorthodox approach, but that has not prevented them from reaching a number of checkpoints across the metal spectrum. If nothing else, it would make a killer soundtrack to an afternoon in Games Workshop.
