Scare - In The End, Was It Worth it?

Scare is a metallic hardcore/sludge band from Canada, who formed in 2015 and quickly put out their first demo.   After their debut full-length “Not Dead Yet, Probably…” and an EP in 2021, the band returns with their second full-length “In The End, Was It Worth It?”

Hardcore isn’t really my thing but if I don’t step outside my comfort zone from time to time then what’s the point of reviewing?  Besides, the press release mentioned ‘sludge’ so there is no way I was going to ignore this.  Hey, what can I say?  I’m a simple man; I see the word ‘sludge’ and say yes.

“In The End, Was It Worth It?” is certainly worth my time and yours, even if you are like me and shy away from hardcore.  There is more than enough abrasive metal and unstoppable energy shoved into the album’s 13 song, 32 minute runtime  to satisfy even the most cynical metalheads.  Of course, I imagine there are plenty of hardcore fans who shy away from metal but I promise you all this is a well-rounded album that provides the best of all the worlds the band plays around in. 

The best thing about this album is the riffs.  My god, the fucking riffs.  This album has riffs for days.  You want a riff?  She’s asking for a riff?  He needs a riff?  YOU ALL GET RIFFS.   The guitars blast them out in waves of groove, galloping crunches, and even moments of blackened fury.  They mix it up, constantly straddling their genres or sometimes just straight up throwing it into a blender just to see what spits out.  

The bass is great and doesn’t get lost in the fury but I chalk that up to a solid mixing and production job.  It’s certainly a rough sounding album but in the best way possible.  The drums are caustic and provide much of the energy that moves the band perpetually forward.  I love the vocals—straight up sandpaper from the throat.  He could probably yell at your car and the pain would peel off.  

The album opens with “Nevermind If It All Explodes, I’ll Die Anyway,” and it sounds exactly how the title would make someone think it might sound like.  The riffs begin immediately with this whole sludge/groove aspect that works because the energy of hardcore punk is so infused into their style that everything they do is guaranteed to work.  The song picks up steam as it pushes through, getting so heavy that it nearly made me dizzy.  

“Drifted Away,” sounds like someone tripped down a hill and broke every bone on the way down.  The guitars are deceptively simple, just layered enough to up the fury to the level of “eaten alive by sharks”. My favorite part is just over the halfway mark when the band pulls back on the tempo a bit and the drums go insane.  

“Thrash Melrose,” is one of my favorites on the album because it’s one of the most chaotic songs on the album.  The vocals descend to levels of depravity while the music attempts to match it—and succeeds.  The urgency of this song is powerful and the subtle use of melody is fantastic.  

I don’t know if the song was named after it or not but “Doomynation,” has a lot of doom/sludge in it.  The intro is clean while the bass moves to build the song up.  The melody here is surprising and I appreciate the curveball.  The rest of the song is slow and a musical dance routine for bulldozers.  

If “Doomynation,” embraces doom/sludge then “Turbograine,” takes their hardcore to extreme levels.  This is a short, blistering song that will make even metalheads smile because of all the rifftastic awesomeness.

The final two songs are among my favorites.  “Reality Of Death In The Maze Of Hope,” is one of those songs that if someone asked me what song they should listen to first on the album to get an idea of the band’s sound, I’d suggest it.  It hits all the right notes and shows off all the different influences in their sound. 

The final song is “Doomynation 2” and I’m glad they returned to this style because it makes for a compelling ending.  This one begins clean too but the notes are lower and denser.  I found this to be one of the most extreme songs on the album, in no small part due to the vocals which felt like they were shaking my headphones.  The music is balanced between heavy and melodic textures but still has the punk energy. 

Scare’s “In The End, Was It Worth It?” is a fantastic release that challenged my tastes and I am thankful for it.  Any fan of hardcore, punk, and metal would be insane to ignore this.