''Scar the Martyr'' is the only album by the American heavy metal band

Scar the Martyr Scar the Martyr was an American heavy metal band, consisting of Joey Jordison, Kris Norris, Jed Simon, Kyle Konkiel, and Matthew Tarach. History The band was announced in April 2013 by drummer Joey Jordison, who was still playing with Slipk ...

, released on October 1, 2013.

Writing and recording

The album was mostly written by former Slipknot drummer

Joey Jordison Nathan Jonas "Joey" Jordison (April 26, 1975 – July 26, 2021) was an American musician. He was the original drummer and co-founder of the heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he was designated #1, as well as the guitarist for the horror punk s ...

, who formed the band alongside Blood Promise frontman Henry Derek Bonner in early 2013. Jordison performed all drums, bass and the majority of rhythm guitars on the album before bringing in

Chris Vrenna Chris Vrenna (born February 23, 1967 in Erie, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, producer, engineer, remixer, songwriter, programmer, and founder of the electronic band Tweaker. Vrenna played drums for the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails ...

(formerly of

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

and

Marilyn Manson Brian Hugh Warner (born January 5, 1969), known professionally as Marilyn Manson, is an American rock musician. He came to prominence as the lead singer of the band which shares his name, of which he remains the only constant member since it ...

) to perform keyboards, and

Kris Norris Kris Norris is the former lead guitarist for the heavy metal bands Scar the Martyr, Darkest Hour and the Canadian metalcore band Threat Signal. He is also known for his stints as touring guitarist for God Forbid and Straight Line Stitch. Kris ...

(formerly of Darkest Hour) and

Jed Simon Jedson Louis Simon (born February 27, 1964) is a Canadian musician. He was a member of supergroup Scar the Martyr and has been a member of numerous metal bands, including Front Line Assembly, Strapping Young Lad, Zimmers Hole, and TENET. He is ...

(formerly of

Strapping Young Lad Strapping Young Lad was a Canadian extreme metal band formed by Devin Townsend in Vancouver in 1994. The band started as a one-man studio project; Townsend played most of the instruments on the 1995 debut album, ''Heavy as a Really Heavy Thing' ...

) to perform lead guitar duties. The first song released from the album, ''Blood Host'', was released on August 2, 2013. The second song, ''Soul Disintegration'', was released alongside the album artwork on August 16, 2013.

Critical reception

The album was met with positive reviews by critics; however, specific aspects of the album's construction and overall tone were met with divided opinions.

Sputnikmusic Sputnikmusic is an American music community website offering music criticism and music news alongside features commonly associated with wiki-style websites. The format of the website is unusual in that it includes both professional and amateur c ...

stated that the album's sound appeared to include many elements from Slipknot, the differences being that

Derek Derek is a masculine given name. It is the English language short form of ''Diederik'', the Low Franconian form of the name Theodoric. Theodoric is an old Germanic name with an original meaning of "people-ruler". Common variants of the name are ...

's vocal style is more varied and has not come across as a

Corey Taylor Corey Todd Taylor (born December 8, 1973) is an American musician, songwriter and actor. He is the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Slipknot (band), Slipknot, in which he is designated #8, as well as the lead vocalist and guitarist for the ...

clone and that the keyboards used aided in creating eerie atmospheres which aided the

industrial Industrial may refer to: Industry * Industrial archaeology, the study of the history of the industry * Industrial engineering, engineering dealing with the optimization of complex industrial processes or systems * Industrial city, a city dominate ...

sounding guitars, the main set-back being that with the extended length of a relatively small number of tracks, the album was too long and should have been shortened.

Renowned for Sound ''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...

called the band a "

supergroup Supergroup or super group may refer to: * Supergroup (music), a music group formed by artists who are already notable or respected in their fields * Supergroup (physics), a generalization of groups, used in the study of supersymmetry * Supergroup ...

" since the band's members, with the exception of Henry Derek, were all prominent musicians prior to the band's formation. The review praised the album's lyrics and the mix of heavy guitar riffs and solos, which followed along to a simple yet very well structured drum beat; however, they stated the role of the keyboards were very minor throughout the album. Review by Bring the Noise gave the album a positive review, praising the horror-themed atmospheric tones and stated that the album consisted of catchy choruses and rhythmic guitar patterns. They also praised the use of powerful lyrics and complimented the vocal talent of Derek, and that the electro/

retro Retro style is imitative or consciously derivative of lifestyles, trends, or art forms from history, including in music, modes, fashions, or attitudes. In popular culture, the "nostalgia cycle" is typically for the two decades that begin 20–30 ...

elements had a very strong yet not overpowering presence in the album. As of January 2014, it sold roughly 11,000 copies in US only.

Track listing

Personnel

;Scar the Martyr * Henry Derek – vocals, rhythm guitar on "Cruel Ocean" and "White Nights in a Day Room" *

– lead guitar *

– drums, percussion, bass, rhythm guitar ;Additional musicians *

– keyboards, programming *

Rhys Fulber Nowell Rhys Fulber is a Canadian electronic musician and producer. He is a member of Front Line Assembly and Delerium, along with Bill Leeb. He also records under his own name and under the name Conjure One. Biography Rhys Fulber was born in ...

- additional programming ;Production *Produced by

*Co-produced by

*Engineered by Ryan Martin *Mixed by

Zeuss Christopher Harris (born April 1, 1972), known professionally as Zeuss, is an American record producer, mixer, guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Biography Zeuss is best known in the worlds of hard rock, heavy metal music, hardcore punk, and ...

*Mastered by Alan Douches *Jarosław Baran -

digital editing Digital media is any media (communication), communication media that operate in conjunction with various encoded machine-readable data formats. Digital media can be created, viewed, distributed, modified, listened to, and preserved on a digital ...

*John Cranfield - digital editing * Travis Smith - album art, design *Justin Borucki - band photography *Neil Zaugg - Chris Vrenna photograph *Amanda Victoria - production assistant

References

{{Authority control 2013 debut albums Scar the Martyr albums Roadrunner Records albums Albums produced by Rhys Fulber