Review: Scratch One Grub
One isn't an album designed to sit quietly in the background. It demands your attention, your patience and repeated listens, but the payoff is extraordinary.
REVIEWS
7/19/20264 min read
Next up is Scratch One Grub with their astonishing new album, One.
Describing Scratch One Grub as simply a metal band would be doing them a huge disservice. Yes, there are elements of groove metal, progressive metal, industrial, death metal and black metal throughout this record, but what really sets them apart is their complete refusal to stay in one lane. Every song is packed with ideas, every turn feels unexpected, and somehow the chaos is always under absolute control.
This is an album that constantly challenges you, rewards you and occasionally leaves your jaw on the floor.
Opening track Swamp Scum immediately announces that this is going to be no ordinary ride. It soars into life before descending into a level of controlled chaos that most metal bands can only dream of creating.
The drumming alone is simply phenomenal. Powerful, inventive and technically breathtaking, there are moments here where even the legendary Vinnie Paul would surely have nodded in appreciation.
The band quickly lock into a colossal ripsaw riff before unleashing an avalanche of guitars, synths, crushing rhythms and vocals. The vocal performance deserves particular praise. Rather than relying on the predictable clean-versus-growl dynamic, the vocalist demonstrates an extraordinary range, shifting between desperation, aggression and menace while giving the band an identity all of their own.
The layering throughout the track is remarkable. There is so much happening that one listen simply isn't enough.
Even the guitar solo refuses to follow convention. Rather than another blistering shred-fest, it draws inspiration from the expressive solos of the 80's while remaining firmly rooted in modern metal.
What an opening statement.
Vagabond follows with a fuzzy guitar tone so abrasive it almost hurts before the full band crashes together with devastating precision. The atmosphere becomes noticeably darker, embracing death metal's heaviest tendencies while never abandoning melody or intelligent songwriting.
This is a fearless band.
The doubled vocal arrangements are absolutely crushing, while the song constantly drags the listener towards the abyss before lifting them back out with soaring guitars and shimmering synths, only to throw them straight back into darkness moments later.
On paper, many of these ideas shouldn't work together.
On this album, they work brilliantly.
GTFP fittingly opens with an alarm siren before locking into an enormous groove that immediately grabs hold. One of the album's greatest strengths is the band's understanding of restraint. Unlike many modern metal acts, Scratch One Grub know exactly when to leave space, making the heavier moments feel even more devastating when they arrive.
The vocals leap between guttural growls and rapid-fire lyrical assaults, while the drumming once again provides astonishing depth and precision.
There are multiple moments where the entire song feels as though it's about to collapse into complete chaos before the band effortlessly pull everything back together.
The spoken word section adds another layer of menace, reinforcing the feeling that Scratch One Grub are creating something genuinely fresh within modern heavy music.
Absolutions offers what initially feels like a brief moment of respite.
Opening with a beautifully atmospheric passage that recalls 90's Scandinavian gothic metal, the song gently lulls the listener into a false sense of security. It is mesmerising, delicate and almost cinematic.
Then everything changes.
The music gradually swells before exploding into one of the album's most uplifting moments. Here we hear Scratch One Grub at their most harmonious, almost approaching classical composition in the way themes evolve and intertwine.
The vocal enters almost imperceptibly before the song gradually rebuilds towards the band's heavier foundations.
The duel between guitars and drums midway through the track is genuinely breathtaking.
Another astonishing piece of music.
Bad Habit takes yet another unexpected turn, introducing flashes of 80's hard rock without ever losing the band's identity. The groove is irresistible, while whispered vocals creep into your ears before suddenly erupting into controlled madness.
If there is one track on the album that demands headphones, this is it.
The production allows every tiny detail to shine, revealing countless hidden layers with every listen.
The song twists and turns with breathtaking confidence. Nothing is predictable and absolutely nothing feels clichéd.
This isn't simply songwriting.
It's storytelling through sound.
Scratch One Grub somehow take influences ranging from Linkin Park to Mayhem and mould them into something completely their own.
#1 immediately hits with chaotic guitars and thunderous drums threatening total destruction before collapsing into one of the biggest grooves we've heard all year.
The sheer weight of this track is immense.
The breakdown introduces another guttural vocal performance that sounds as though it has emerged directly from the depths before another wonderfully unexpected twist arrives as a DJ seamlessly scratches and blends into the arrangement.
It should feel jarring.
Instead, it feels completely natural.
It is another reminder that Scratch One Grub fear absolutely nothing creatively.
Then comes YSBRYD, perhaps the album's most ambitious moment.
Beginning with eerie ambience, delicate clean guitars and haunting piano, the atmosphere is unlike anything else on the record. The vocal arrives almost like an ancient Celtic chant before the song erupts into another colossal wave of heaviness.
Calling this a quiet-versus-loud dynamic almost undersells what is happening.
This feels more like several entirely different songs somehow co-existing within the same composition.
Trying to describe it is almost impossible.
The closest comparison we could find was imagining a death metal version of Bohemian Rhapsody.
It is dark, theatrical, unpredictable and utterly captivating.
The album closes with Planet Killer, opening like the soundtrack to a modern horror film before samples, industrial textures and crushing riffs take over. Once again the band refuse to settle, blending post-apocalyptic atmosphere with grooves that recall the very best of Rob Zombie before diving headlong into blackened metal territory.
Then, in typical Scratch One Grub fashion, everything collapses.
An almost pop-inspired vocal unexpectedly lifts the song back towards the light before another crushing groove drags it back into darkness.
The guitar work throughout is sublime, displaying remarkable maturity by knowing exactly when to attack, when to hold back and when silence itself becomes the most powerful instrument.
This is less a song and more an evolving piece of musical art.
It challenges you.
It unsettles you.
And it completely rewards you for giving it your full attention.
One isn't an album designed to sit quietly in the background. It demands your attention, your patience and repeated listens, but the payoff is extraordinary. Scratch One Grub have created a record that tears down genre boundaries, embraces risk at every opportunity and somehow makes the impossible sound effortless. Brutal, intelligent, progressive and endlessly inventive, this feels like modern metal pushing itself forward exactly as it should.
They may have called the album One, but after hearing it, one thing is certain - Scratch One Grub have scored a massive one.