Three years after the debut full album Perpetual Decline, Portuguese trio Scarificare (Njord-d, Inverno-b, and Quetzalcoatl-g/v) return with the sophomore album Postulado (which means something like ‘principle’, if I’m not mistaken), available in a limited edition of 500 copies only. These guys are know from several other highly appreciable bands, such as InThyFlesh, Serpent Lore, Insalubre, Lux Ferre or Gorgonian, so one might expect skilled and professional musicians.
Postulado brings a mostly cold and raging form of early-nineties oriented and Nordic-inspired (Underground) Black Metal with a grandiose sound. That sound is roughly polished, totally un-catchy and razor-edged, strongly inspired, once again, by the Scandinavian scene.
The whole might sound little more varied than before, yet still there is a total lack of own-faced creativity. It does not matter for the average quality is all right, but at the same time I think there are tens of comparable bands nowadays that might be just that little more enthralling. It has something that might remind to a mixture of the Swedish and Norwegian scene, mixing the likes of (respectively, if taking those countries in mind) Dissection and Istapp with Taake, Kharon or Mord. The tempo varies from rather slow to blasting speed-up, but in general it certainly is up-tempo, heavily power-driven and hammering (mind the repetitive yet excellent rhythm section, courtesy of this specific sub-genre). Conclusion: only for the ‘true’ fans of the scene, for this stuff is just a small drop of water on nowadays’ hot plate. Skip it if you’re not totally ‘into’ this genre, but enjoy the aural pleasure in case you are.