Acid Magus – Scatterling Empire

 

 

Acid Magus – Scatterling Empire
Mongrel Records – 2025
Metal, Sludge, Post, Prog
Rated: *****

We were fairly obvious with our adoration of their Hope Is Heavy album. Well, the South African cool cats Acid Magus are back with a follow up to that amazing album. It’s called Scatterling Empire, comes out this Friday, 21st of February on Mongrel Records, and it is one gigantic leap forward once again. So huge in scope and composition, so grandiose in its opening and so lavish in its overture ending, one could expect them to have camped out at a certain crossroad for a few weeks, just so they could sell their soul. They’ve deepened their progressive elements and have come away with songs of other worldly beauty. And if you are one of the few that read those weird words we wrote on their Hope Is Heavy album, you know I was truly in love with the drums. But on Scatterling Empire they are bewildering good! They have enlisted a new drummer, Jethro Vlag, and Roelof van Tonder, the drummer for Hope Is Heavy switched to bass duties. And the combination of those two facts turns every little thing about Scatterling Empire into an alchemic explosion.

As mentioned, the albums starts out grandiose and full of seizing rapture. The track is called War, an alarm going off all around you, a thunderous opening hitting you from all angles, darkening your sky, oppressive in its eruption, it leads you towards a momentary flash of light, sudden in its arrival, with beautiful vocals starting the tale anew. After which the assault continues, like a gatling gun scattering riffs galore. And those drums and those roars and and… It’s a righteous charge into battle! There is no denying you are immediately right smack dab in the middle of it all. Following track Incantations progresses to make the War you’ve been cast into, start to feel holy and unholy all at once. The fighting noises underneath War move seamlessly into the opening prayers, backwards, turning it all more atmospheric, even reflective during certain segments. Expanding their sound and reach into different territories. And you are with them, defiantly running with them across the plains and mountains. And this is just the second track. Heavier in emotion, darker in tones it all reflects the story of humanity, its history and the state of the world today. To accentuate that condition following track Wytch, howls and screeches at you, hooks in you, blast beats emphasizing its violent nature. And the interplay between the bass and drums is once again mind-blowing. And that’s besides the fact that your mind was already tearing itself apart coming to grips with those amazing vocals. The esoteric psychedelic interlude Ascendancy takes you to the single and highly melodic Emperor. Easiest to grip vocally, to scream along with, as the progressive nature of the track keeps taking you higher. The next track Citadel opens highly atmospheric, tranquil and slow moving, before imploring all sorts of percussion to set the scene and paint this picture of many colors of multiple cultures of winds coming in from all around the world to whirl and wind and whisp, turning smoke rings around your head into electric flashing and charged entities. The guitar work, so open and yet so enveloping. Never a note too much or out of place. And so much to explore…

Absolution is the interlude set-up that ending overture Haven needed. Beautiful string work to frame the ending scene, the forever goodbye. Especially once the choir enters the Haven track, the setting sail that begins early on in the track really takes off. But before you get to that part, more gripping guitar work, drums, a punching blast beat and ever more flowing progressive brilliance. Such an uplifting ending, freeing, full of release and that final smile...  And no… The journey doesn’t end there. For the curtain has been pulled back on the greatness of this collective. We can only hope they will continue on for many more albums, cause the deal they made back there, at the crossroads, promises more musical brilliance from these cool cats. Acid Magus have created their own Empire. A hammer strike against the gods. One that will ring on forever. And into legend…

(Written by JK)

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