Scars on Broadway Album Review

Artist: Scars on Broadway
Album: Self Titled
Genre: Hard Rock with Punk/Sludge/Stoner/80’s Influences
Label: Interscope Records

I have very mixed feelings about this album. I’ve been a long time System of a Down fan, so my interest for this band came naturally. System of a Down’s freshman release is my favorite album all time, Toxicity and Steal this Album are also up there. Their last 2 albums were a bit of a disappointment; even though I enjoyed them thoroughly, it was leaps and bounds different from their previous releases and style. I feel Daron has taken a step backwards with this release under Scars on Broadway the same way System took a step backwards with Hypnotize and Mesmerize.

One of the big turn offs I found with the Hypnotize and Mesmerize was Daron doing lead vocals in songs. He went from the crazy guitarist screaming and humping his guitar in the background, into a wanna be vocalist bombarding people with his whiny voice. Serj Tankian is a classically trained vocalist and has been System’s voice for the entire duration of the band, why would he back down and let the guitarist do vocals? Shavo has also reported in interviews that he plays the guitar much better then he plays the bass, yet he steps down and lets Daron play guitar. Sorry for going off on a tangent, but this band only exists because System of a Down is on “hiatus”. It also very important to examine System of a Down when two of their members are the founders of Scars on Broadway.

Now to examine the actual Scars on Broadway album, lol. My biggest, and most excruciating gripe of this album is the lyrics. The fact that System of a Down had very intellectual and abstract lyrics makes this all the more painful. Daron wrote the Scars album entirely, and has claimed several times to have written over 90% of the System songs himself. How do you go from writing two multi-platinum albums in one year, the only other band to accomplish this feat since the Beatles, to writing this pile of garbage you call lyrics for Scars?

You’re too Serious
You’re gonna make me delirious

If you brought this lyrical disaster of a chorus to Serj and asked him to sing this, he would of slapped you in the face. I’m calling bullshit on Daron writing over 90% of the lyrics for System. I’ve read Serj’s work and poems and they are as full of metaphors and abstracts as System’s lyrics, even Serj’s solo album was more on par, lyrically, with System’s work. This is the only other writings of Daron’s that the public has access to and it would be a crime to compare it to System’s lyrics. Here are some other gems from the album:

If we are going to kill each other
how are we going to live together.

If we are going to live together,
how are we going to kill each other.

Explooodiiiiing,
Relooooadiiiing.

I could go on and on quoting these lyrical debacles but I’ll leave it for the song analysis. The next biggest issue I have is the guitar. The guitars are plain and boring. They do just enough to get the job done. Now mind you, they aren’t terrible but they have nothing exciting about them. They are just… there. The drums are about the only thing that is really good on this album. That is when they decide to utilize John’s drumming.

I lied, the vocals are great too. Daron has made HUGE improvements in his vocals since System. He expresses emotion really well, and he lost the majority of the whiny voice routine, though you still hear hints of it on some choruses.

[EDIT]

I wrote this article in a hurry and I miss-recalled the quote from memory and got it confused. I stand on my interpretation of the interviews I’ve read, and it seems like Daron is claiming to write the lyrics. I’ll throw all quotes I’ve gathered below:

“A lot of the vocals that you hear on System songs, whether they’re sung by me or not, were written by me.”

Is the writing process different now, as opposed to when you when you wrote with Serj Tankian (in System of a Down)?

“I never wrote with a partner. That was always the assumption…”

I made that assumption as well …

“No, no don’t worry, it’s not just you. A lot of people assumed that Serj and I sat in a room together and wrote songs. I can’t think of one System song that was written that way.”

Did you collaborate together?

“I wrote the songs in my home by myself, and then I would bring the songs to the band. There were moments where I would have a chorus written and I would be tell them well I have verse here and this is what I think the melody should be but I don’t really have lyrics… So, about 90% of the time, System songs were written that way. Then they’re were occasions where Serj would bring in something and I would help structure that.”

“While I was writing for System, I’d have Serj in mind. I’d try to write melodies or I’d try to write songs that revolved around topics that he would want to sing about”

“He’s very interested in politics and political issues, so I’d try to bring in material that was kind of like that. In this case, I didn’t really have him in mind . . . so the subjects that came out are mainly my interests.”

[/EDIT]

Song Analysis:

1. Serious

Song intro is great. Then you get into the chorus, which is terribly unoriginal. And then…. that’s the whole song. 2 minutes of the same lyrics where the chorus is repeated only oh…. 6 times in that span of 2 minutes. There are two different verses excluding the chorus.

2. Funny

Overall enjoyable song with a lot of 80’s twang to it. A lot of forced rhymes through out the whole song though. A lot of depth, comparatively, to the rest of the songs on the album.

3. Exploding/Reloading

Song sounds great and has an awesome fast paced beat with some China Town esque hook guest appearances. Unfortunately, that is the only thing that is great about the song besides the recurring China Town beat. Calling these lyrics a big steaming pile of shit would be a compliment. This song has one quasi-verse; quasi because they take the first half of the verse and… reverse it for the second half.

I like Jesus Christ mixed with suicide,
I like suicide mixed with Jesus Christ.

But oh wait they might get tricky tricky and switch out the suicide for a genocide. They repeat this crap through out the whole song. And who can forget the 2 word chorus they overly draw out and spam my ears with?

4. Stoner-Hate

This song grabs your attention right away with some hefty guitar and drums. A very melodic and heavy beat that is highlighted again in the chorus. Very nice transitions in and out of the chorus, or at least what I think is the chorus. All the other verses are repeated the same amount. Unfortunately, the song is only 2 minutes long and it suffers from the same torment that Exploding/Reloading inflicts: lack of lyrical depth.

5. Insane

Nice mellow song with an actual guitar solo. Guitar solo is mediocre; very slow and melodic. Again, no lyrical praise for this one. 7 verses, 4 of them are the chorus. This is not a song and shouldn’t be on the album. They probably threw in the guitar solo when they noticed how shallow the song was.

6. World Long Gone

Not much to say here than I haven’t already said before. 3 Different verses that repeat over.. and over…

7. Kill Each Other/Live Forever

Sigh.. I wish I could say something different but I can’t.. 3 Different verses repeated again. This song is going to make people kill each other.

8. Babylon

Another very repetitive song, but the sound progress through the song is amazing. The emotion in his voice coupled with transitions makes this song very powerful. You also get a bit of flare from the guitarists in the latter parts of the song.

9. Chemicals

My first thoughts on the song

Hands down the best song on the album. It has the depth all the other songs lack. Pure emotion can be felt through out the whole song. You also get a glimpse of Daron’s pyschozfrenia personality hes famous for. The transitions are pure awesomeness. This song has enough emotion and elegant, yet rapid transitions to make it my favorite.

10. Enemy

How many rock/metal songs are people gonna title Enemy? The song starts off with a little bit of a Eastern guitar intro to set the mood right. Solid, easy listening song with enough instrumental flare to please the ears. Again, lacking in the lyric department; very, very bland lyrics. I like the chorus bit though, simple yet powerful. “We’re on drugs..”

11. Universe

Another very solid intro that quickly fades into monotone and boring vocals. The drum work on this song is pretty awesome, along with the guitars now that I mention it. The chorus is pretty bland but the rest of the song is definitely more in-depth than the rest of the album. The biggest problem is the monotone vocals, devoid of emotion. I know that was Daron’s goal, but it is slightly annoying.

12. 3005

I don’t know what it is about this song, but I like it. It’s weird but soothing to the ears. My only gripe with it is the kinda forced ending of the song. Sounds like they just decided to end the song all of a sudden.

13. Cute Machines

I really like this song even though the lyrics are very very 2-D. Its catchy and really grabs the listeners into the music. Especially with the sludge-esque guitar solo, sounds like something out of one of Buckethead’s albums. You also get a some screaming from Daron at the end of the song.

14. Whoring Streets

This song is very reminiscent to System of a Down’s Lost in Hollywood. A very dramatic and depressing song. The song is full of emotion… but that is about it.

15. They Say

My first thoughts on the song

Another one of the best songs on the album, which also happens to be their main single. My first review of the song was a little harsh, but I maintain some of my thoughts. The guitar is melodic but simple. The drumming is unbelievably plain and boring. Especially since we all know this is John and he can beat the shit out of a drum set. I’ll reiterate what I said in my first review, I feel as if they are holding back. You get a glimpse of anger from Daron, but it feels restrained. Song needs less singing and more yelling, not every song needs to be a poetic ballad, emotion is the most powerful tool of conveyance. With that being said, I am still a big fan of the song.

Verdict:

3 out of 5

Walk, don’t run to buy this album. Ok, maybe you could jog briskly, but only briskly. The downfall of the album is the song structure and lyrics. 90% of the songs are 2-3 verses repeated over and over. Now, if this was some no name shithead garage band that might cut it. But the songs are written by Daron Malakian of System of a Down. The expectations were high, and Daron disappointed with these shit lyrics. On a happier note he definitely made some improvement on the vocals. He has made work to lose that whiny high pitched crying he did on SoaD’s last two releases. He has added more weapons to his vocal arsenal, he has refined his repertoire.

The guitar work was satisfactory. These guys are new on the scene, at least to vast majority of us out there so I wasn’t expecting much. The drumming was superb when John was allowed to do his thing. My overall feeling towards this album was that it wasn’t ready. A lot of the songs on here are great, but not amazing. A lot of the rest are shitacular. Dump the shitty songs and refine the rest and you get a perfect album. I feel as if they rushed through this and put something out there they weren’t ready to. They knew they had to get touring to get their name out there. They were performing at major venues two months before their album was due to release. All in all, a very solid album definitely worth a listen. That becomes a must if you are any type of a System of a Down fan.