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EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: Scaphoid Range Far For Their Sound On “Marauder”

It’s always a blast to get to write about entirely new bands. That is, bands that I’ve never covered before on the blog. Sure, it’s also nice

4 years ago

It’s always a blast to get to write about entirely new bands. That is, bands that I’ve never covered before on the blog. Sure, it’s also nice to go back to old favorites and catch up with them but there’s nothing that beats the excitement of getting your hands on some new music, new for you anyway. That’s the kind of excitement with which I approached this new track from Scaphoid. I had never heard of this Austin, Texas based band, even though their debut, released back in 2016, seems to have caused quite a splash. I get to remedy that now with the excellent “Marauder”, off of their upcoming release Absent Passages. If the lead single is anything to go by, Absent Passages, releasing on October 9th, will set the hearts of many a post-metal/rock fan ablaze. Head on down below to see what I mean.

That’s quite an intricate track you have there. Would be a shame if someone were to…analyze it. Jokes aside, “Marauder” is such a rich piece of music. It starts off broodingly enough, with those sparse acoustic guitar parts ushering it in. These are quickly joined by some devilishly agile drums that chart out the track’s main groove, assisted, of course, by the bass. You can start to hear traces of The Ocean in the sound, established by the prominent bass but also by the ambient synths and guitar lines that lead this track into its middle.

But it’s in the last quarter of the track, when everything ramps up for the track’s emotional crescendo that this comparison really comes to life. Scaphoid, on “Marauder” at least, channel a lot of those slow and considered post-metal vibes into their sound. When you couple this with the fact that the rest of the track is not so much build as it is a different thread, a different part of the musical exploration which takes place on this track, you get true excellence.

Absent Passages releases on October 9th, remember? You can pre-order it right here and, to be honest, if you’re a fan of progressive, post-metal or post-rock and you don’t do that, the joke’s entirely on you.

Eden Kupermintz

Published 4 years ago