Scound is a self-described metalcore band from the Czech Republic who released their second CD, "At The Point of Death", on Crystal Productions last year. Scound has been around since 2003 and this new six-track EP follows the band's 2006 full-length No Second Chances.

It took a few listens before I got into this disc and I think the reason was that I was expecting to hear the big choruses and clean vocals of a typical metalcore disc. Scound's music uses some of the melodic double guitar sound of the metalcore genre but the overall sound seems more in line with the death metal genre. Vocalist MicL sings in a standard death-metal growl while the guitar sounds burst in staccato, chugging riffs over the double bass drum. Regardless of whether the death metal or metalcore label sticks, the challenge with "At The Point of Death" is that most of the songs don't go far enough down either path to be memorable. I'm not sure what the purpose is of the disc's final track "Outro" as it doesn't fit (at all) with the other songs but the melodic, acoustic guitar and strings-driven piece is one of the more memorable songs on the disc.

I don't mean to slag the band as they are obviously talented (the melodic guitar leads are killer) but hopefully next time out, they push the envelope a bit as the band's early live videos show that they can work up a good head of death-metal steam. Check out the video trailer for the band's latest disc along with an early live video and see what you think.





Links:
Scound