I'm delighted to say that Scarling not only excel where Jack Off Jill fell short but manage to successfully create a unique sound of their own - a rarity in modern day music.
Having listened to the album in it's entirety about four times, I can really say that it's terrible album cover does absolutely no justice to it's content. It's composed of seven songs and is about a half an hour in length. All seven songs are dark, melancholy and morbid, exploring themes like superficiality, drug abuse and unrequited love.
The strongest tracks on the album were 'The Last Day I Was Happy', 'Crispin Glover' and 'Alexander the Burn Victim':
'The Last Day I Was Happy' - This song starts with very soft vocals almost drowned out by the grungey guitar riff and the the light but still evident percussion, then the second guitar strategically starts strumming violently during the pre-chorus. Then the chorus erupts loudly with angry fast-paced drumming. I like the contast between Jessikah's delicate voice, the beating drums and the effects pedals. Lyrically, I'm under the impression this song is about a boyfriend or lover that isn't as interested in her as he's lead on. The frustration of the situation is evident as she gradually transitions from singing to shouting.
'Alexander the Burn Vicim' - This song's beauty is in it's hauntingly beautiful chorus and painfully sad subject matter. My lyrical interpretation may differ from others but in my opinion, it's about a previously beautiful fellow who's crippled by his injury and destined for a life of loneliness due to the fact that no girl can see past his damaged exterior. The emotional tone is reflected in the musical composition as It's one of the slower songs on the album. It's very simple. The effect pedals almost drown out the other instruments in parts and the bass adds an extra layer of emotion and sadness to this song. This is my favourite song on the album.
There isn't much to criticise with this album apart from the last song, 'Can't(Halloween Valentine)'. It's one of those songs that you instinctively skip. With that said, it is a good conclusion to the album as it weans the listener off the music they've just listened to, leaving them with a sense of finality. Though, a song is a song in it's own right and it's important to review everything separately before putting it into the context of an album and I just don't think it's up to par with the rest of the album. It's simply uninteresting.
All in all, their music was described best by Robert Smith who said it was "dark, desperate, chaotic, gorgeous pop music, the sound of the end of the world'' 4.5/5.
