Soulscar

Western Canada’s kings of melodic, Swedish-flavoured thrash are back with another album that, by all accounts, should garner them a bigger buzz than what they already have. With Endgame, it’s more of the same incredibly perfect riff action, catchy choruses, and raging double time beats. But this time they’ve finally got a really good production sound. This Vancouver band have always been the brainchild of mastermind Andrew Staehling, and with this album it’s even more so, as Andrew continues his Mustaine/Waters-esque quest for thrash domination. And yeah, there are hints of both Megadeth and Annihilator here, with Soulscar topping what either have done in a good decade. The drawback to Endgame is the lack of those excellent clean vocals that made the band’s last, Victim Impact Statement, such a pleasant surprise. Some well-placed female vocals do provide a great counterpoint to the growling and screaming, though. Man, this stuff rages, even if for once some of the songs begin to feel a bit predictable. One of Canada’s best, here’s hoping Endgame gets these guys some big-league attention.