Albums: Darlings of Chelsea & Scythia

Darlings of Chelsea: Panic is Worse than Emergency

Listening to the first LP from this Toronto outfit, I find myself reminded of the Post-Grunge / Cali Skate Punk eras of Rock.  The fast-driving intense Rock recalls groups like The Offspring, or Foo Fighters (If Dave Grohl didn’t taint the group with his hellish douchebaggery).

The songs are fast and frenetic, occasionally lapsing into a little overboard intensity, but the songs all have intense rhythms, well-layered instrumentation, catchy hooks and memorable choruses.

The only reason points come off of this one is the lack of metadata on the CD.  Once again, I uploaded this disc to my MP3 player only to discover that I was listening to [unknown album] by [unknown artist] with such awesome song titles as [track 01], [track 02], [track 03] or my favourite, [track 04]

So other than that one supremely negligent technical fault, this is a great rocker.

Darlings of Chelsea: Panic is worse than Emergency – 7.5/10

Independent

Scythia: Of Exile

Metalheads Scythia craft an epic storytelling album on this one, stylistically harkening back to the Golden Age of Metal, before the 1980s Hair Bands, before the Power Metal of the 1990s and the commercial grade metal of the Nu Millennium.

The concept of the album tells the tale of a noble King deposed by his chancellor and exiled from the kingdom along with those few knights who supported him.  The album details their years in exile as they seek to build an army, the King’s battle with an accursed sword and finally their triumphant return from exile.

The classic sound and epic subject matter make this one wholly different from any other Metal album you’re likely to listen to this year

Scythia: Of Exile – 9/10

Independent