If AMORPHIS, GOJIRA and ROTTING CHRIST had somehow conceived a conspicuous love child, SCAR OF THE SUN would be it. They have released their third studio album Inertia and it’s honestly one of the most thought-provoking albums I have come across. Amongst the chaos, there are well thought out lyrics and important messages within. This isn’t a switch your brains off type album, this needs your full attention. Let me explain.
It starts off with atmospheric instrumental Hyrdogen. It sounds mysterious, it entices you to find out more and it makes you realise sticking around is the only way to do this. This smoothly transitions into the thunderous sounds the title track. The definition of inertia is the tendency to do nothing or to remain unchanged. Once I realised this meaning, lyrics such as “You came out clean, that’s what you think, We all know you got away with murder Unlock and activate Mass deception.”
You know those tracks that seem longer in duration because there is so much detail and elements within them? Well the tracks from Inertia are great examples of this, not because the tracks are boring and you’re eager for them to finish. It’s due to because each track makes you think and reflect. I did say this wasn’t a leave your brains at the door album.
The Quantum Leap Zero tracks are interesting to me. First of all, usually all the parts are one after the other on an album. Not for SCAR OF THE SUN, the placed the first two parts together and placed the third part after a couple of other tracks. The tracks in question are the atmospheric Oxygen and dominant sounding The Fallible Experiment. Even with this arrangement in place, it didn’t feel disjointed or shoved in at the last minute. This arrangement works and the tracks flow nicely together.
The definition of quantum leap is an abrupt change, sudden increase, or dramatic advance. Each of the Quantum Leap Zero tracks do well to match this definition through the sudden and abrupt musical changes.
Singularity Collapse is also an intriguing track. When searching for this, I came across Albert Einstein’s theory General Relativity about space, time and gravity allowing the existence of singularities. I’m not claiming to know everything about science but it probably explains when listening to this track, everything felt so vast and clever at the same time. Something I didn’t think was possible.
Long story short, Inertia is an album every metal head needs to hear. It’s definitely one of the most interesting albums I have come across in terms of lyrics and themes. It also contains impactful music that allows you to immerse and really think about things. I find some of the best albums encourage me to learn about new things and Inertia is now on my list of these records. This was my first experience of SCAR OF THE SUN and because of the genius that Inertia brought forward, it certainly won’t be the last.
Note: your full attention is needed when listening to this. I will say one last time this isn’t a leave your brain at the door album.
Rating: 8/10
Words: Lotty Whittingham
Inertia is out now.
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