The Art Of Suffering is the latest offering from Scarnival and whilst it thankfully doesn’t quite live up to its name, it’s not exactly a fresh listen and doesn’t blaze a new trail in the melodic death metal genre, instead seeing the band taking a well-travelled route – Scarnival have played things very safe, rather than them being a bit more adventurous with their songwriting.
The Art Of Suffering isn’t necessarily a bad listen but as it doesn’t really bring many new ideas to the table, it just plays as a fairly average album. There’s nothing that makes it stand out from the crowd and subsequently it doesn’t really provoke a strong reaction either way – whilst none of the songs make you recoil in horror whilst holding your hands over your ears, it is also the case that none of the songs make you sit up and pay attention.
There’s certainly promise within the album’s twelve tracks but Scarnival haven’t quite managed to reach their full potential this time round. It’s a shame because it feels like Scarnival are capable of more than simply blending into the scenery.
5/10
