Russian proto-heavybringers Scarecrow will release their second album, II, on Oct. 22 through Wise Blood Records. The first-names-only four-piece of vocalist/flutist Artemis (also harmonica), guitarist Max, bassist Elijah and drummer Vadim — somebody’s playing keys too — will also issue their 2019 self-titled debut through the label, and there’s little mystery why upon listening. With its rockers up front and a generally longer, more progressive-vibing B-side whose tracks, “The Moors” (8:11), “The Mushroom Wizard” (4:15), the initially-acoustic “The Golden Times” (5:46) and finale “The Endless Ocean” (7:14), give a sense of narrative through their titles alone never mind the actual flow between them, the 43-minute eight-songer basks in its more grandiose aspects from orchestral intro/opener “The Endless Ocean Overture” (4:10) onward into the crashing “Blizzard” (premiering below) calling to mind then-via-now practitioners like Horisont or Sweden’s glammier Hällas, though Max‘s sweeping guitar and Artemis‘ ready-to-soar vocals stand them apart.

In setting up the broader reaches of II‘s second half (‘II point five?’), Scarecrow are likewise unafraid to actively engage either doom rock on “Blizzard” or to emerge from their lumbering crash and noise for a dual-layered, NWOBHM-gone-boogie guitar solo in the also-harmonica-laced 12-bar blueser “Magic Flower,” and though “Spirit Seducer” is the shortest cut on the record at 4:02, it unleashes a blend of ’70s rock and ’80s metal that’s denim-clad one way or the other, and even as they shift into “The Moors” (the riff structure in the first half of which I can’t help but hear and think of King Crimson‘s “Starless and Bible Black,” having just seen that band live, but you’d be no more wrong to say Sabbath), they keep their underlying propensity for speed, Vadim‘s drums punctuating a run in the back end of the track that serves as a bed for an echoing flute solo. The comparative strut of “The Mushroom Wizard” — everybody stepping out of the way this time for snare pops between measures — and the lead work in the midsection would seem to indicate that though the self-titled, 2019’s Nosferatu EP, and II have all featured different guitarists, Scarecrow have found their guy in Max. I don’t know who’s composing the foundations of the songs to allow for such consistency of intention across their offerings to this point — Elijah‘s basslines are a steady, welcome presence one way or the other — but yes, the dynamic between these players very much works, and it sounds like it’s been happening for longer than it apparently has.

They cap, as noted, with “The Endless Ocean,” in complementary fashion to “The Endless Ocean Overture” at the beginning, and even find room for a flourish of sax at the back end amid the meandering guitar and slow-fading boogie, which gives way gradually to bass and drums in a jam before a last big finish — quick — sends Scarecrow off and on their way to whatever adventures await them on those particular seas. The social perspective as described by Artemis in the quote under the “Blizzard” premiere below is interesting, though whether that persists through a song like “The Moors,” I’m not certain, having not seen a full lyric sheet. Nonetheless, like the progressive nuance that underlies the outward ’70s vibes of II as a whole, it’s another layer of complexity to what Scarecrow bring forth for those ready to dig deeper. If you’re going to vibe on it, understand that there’s more going on in arrangement and structure than shuffle and blues, though there’s definitely some of that too.

Track follows on the player below, quote’s after that.

Enjoy:

Artemis on “Blizzard”:

A song about life in the conditions in which we live day by day. And it’s not only about weather conditions: severe winters, icy wind, snowy wastelands, frozen swamps, impenetrable snow-covered forests, and endless night.

All this metaphorically reflects what is happening in this country throughout our life: eternal stagnation, frozen minds, suffering that is not only considered a common human norm, but even culturally and socially encouraged, the absence of any confidence in tomorrow (and today, to be honest, too), ubiquitous corruption, bureaucracy, crime, the cultivation of monstrous, destructive stupidity and this eternal, ridiculous expectation of a “bright future” that will never come.

Preorder: https://scarecrow-official.bandcamp.com/album/scarecrow-ii

Scarecrow’s doom rock will lure you to the ocean when Wise Blood Records releases II digitally and on Digipak CD within the United States on October 22nd. Scarecrow’s debut will also finally be available in the states. Make time and listen to Scarecrow summon the sunset.

Scarecrow is:
Artemis – Vocals, Harmonica, Flute
Elijah – Bass Guitar
Vadim – Drums, Percussion
Max – Guitars

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Tags: II, Perm, Russia, Scarecrow, Scarecrow II, Wise Blood Records

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 7th, 2021 at 5:35 am and is filed under audiObelisk. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.