You know how it sometimes goes: You see a great live band which absolutely blows you away, but they don't have an album out yet. So they are slipping from your mind again. And when the album is finally out there you miss the release - and that might be it forever.
Well, the case of Scimitar could have ended in a similar way for me. I saw the Danish band filling in on short notice at A Colossal Weekend 2024, where they ended up being one of the weeekend's greatest surprises and highlights.
But even though I did miss the initial release of their debut "Scimitarium 1" in 2025, I eventually got wind of it. Yet since their label Crypt of the Wizard is from the UK I pondered too long in hope to find another source with cheaper shipping, forgot about it again and there you go... They've already releases the follow-up "Scimitarium II" - alongside a new press of the first album. So I finally ordered them both now. From different sources, because my preferred versions weren't available in one place, but both records arrived on the same day nonetheless.
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| Scimitar live in Copenhagen |
But even though I did miss the initial release of their debut "Scimitarium 1" in 2025, I eventually got wind of it. Yet since their label Crypt of the Wizard is from the UK I pondered too long in hope to find another source with cheaper shipping, forgot about it again and there you go... They've already releases the follow-up "Scimitarium II" - alongside a new press of the first album. So I finally ordered them both now. From different sources, because my preferred versions weren't available in one place, but both records arrived on the same day nonetheless.
SCIMITAR - Scimitarium I (Rusty Red vinyl LP) (2025/2026)
With its antique-style embossed cover artwork this repress of last year's debut on red vinyl is a beautiful item, including the lyric sheet with a low-fi band photograph and the brilliant skeleton monster drawing derived from it. So while it's probably one step down from the previous limited golden version I had slept on, there's still nothing to complain about here.
The Copenhagen-based group with (among others) members of Slægt and most noticeable singer Shaam Larein (whose band's 2022 album "Sticka En Kniv I Världen" I can only recommend) offers a feverishly performed mix of 1980's Speed/Heavy Metal with a Blackened flavour and a bit of Post Punk attitude.
This is clearly a band which owes its existence to the wave of Occult Proto Metal started by The Devil's Blood. Scimitar however not only take conceptual inspiration from Black Metal, but actually let the guitar work and even occasional bleast beats of the genre seep into their frantic NWoBHM pieces.
Other than that there are also the almost obligatory Classical ideas in the guitar work, while Larein's mostly clean vocals balance 70's Hard Rock with a more eccentric Post Punk/Dark Wave touch.
All in all "Scimitarium I" is an album with an energy close to a demonically possessed version of Johanna Sadonis' pre-Lucifer band The Oath. There is something unbound and chaotic, but very real and pure about this. It always feels as if it was faster and more panically driven than it's supposed to be.
The lyrics also appear to be a liitle too wordy and not as catchy as they could be, while the production sounds muddier than necessary... but that too is actually a powerful part of the album's explosive charme. album, which rocks frim start to finish and doesn't overstay its welcome with a neat playing time of little over forty minutes.
The Copenhagen-based group with (among others) members of Slægt and most noticeable singer Shaam Larein (whose band's 2022 album "Sticka En Kniv I Världen" I can only recommend) offers a feverishly performed mix of 1980's Speed/Heavy Metal with a Blackened flavour and a bit of Post Punk attitude.
This is clearly a band which owes its existence to the wave of Occult Proto Metal started by The Devil's Blood. Scimitar however not only take conceptual inspiration from Black Metal, but actually let the guitar work and even occasional bleast beats of the genre seep into their frantic NWoBHM pieces.
Other than that there are also the almost obligatory Classical ideas in the guitar work, while Larein's mostly clean vocals balance 70's Hard Rock with a more eccentric Post Punk/Dark Wave touch.
All in all "Scimitarium I" is an album with an energy close to a demonically possessed version of Johanna Sadonis' pre-Lucifer band The Oath. There is something unbound and chaotic, but very real and pure about this. It always feels as if it was faster and more panically driven than it's supposed to be.
The lyrics also appear to be a liitle too wordy and not as catchy as they could be, while the production sounds muddier than necessary... but that too is actually a powerful part of the album's explosive charme. album, which rocks frim start to finish and doesn't overstay its welcome with a neat playing time of little over forty minutes.
SCIMITAR - Scimitarium II (Purple vinyl LP) (2025/2026)
Even though I find gold on red a bit more striking than violet on black, you obviously can't hate on the artwork of "Scimitarium II" if you like its predecessor. Interestingly the cover now very much reminds me of various releases from †, also knows as (Dolch) - which translates to "dagger". Not the only parallel I can see to the German Black Ambient band. Are there any other bands around based on a ritual weapon obsession?
Besides a lyric sheet - which is double the size this time, this first press also contains an OBI strip.
Not only visually but unsurprisingly also musically this album is of course a continuation of the debut, albeit It's neither an exact stylistic copy nor an attempt to make the band more accesible through streamlining the chaos. No, quite the opposite! The opener buries its beautiful vocals under a challenging, shrill wall of oldschool low-fi Black Metal sound. And while the evil fog becomes clearer after that, the two main directions Scimitar are going to at the same time, have been established now:
The melodic side of Shaam Larein's vocals stand out more, so this album could potentially be catchier - if it wasn't for the even wilder and Blacker instrumental performance and decidedly uncompromising production.
On side B things get slower, for a while even cleaner, and more epic in the over thirteen minutes long closer "Mobula Mobular", but overall the band still isn't willing to make it easy for you. Other than for example the Italians Ponte Del Diavolo, who are kind of playing in the same wheelhouse, but immediately reach you with their clean production, Scimitar go the other way and drag you through a trial of initiation. You really need to accustom yourself to the raw occult underground aesthetic - only then you get rewarded all the more.
These two albums are a strong foundation for the band's discography, but they are not designed to lift Scimitar out of obscurity. If that happens, it will do so through their ferocious live shows - of which we hopefully will see more. Because as much as I like their studio work, the stage still is where they truly unleash their true potential.
Besides a lyric sheet - which is double the size this time, this first press also contains an OBI strip.
Not only visually but unsurprisingly also musically this album is of course a continuation of the debut, albeit It's neither an exact stylistic copy nor an attempt to make the band more accesible through streamlining the chaos. No, quite the opposite! The opener buries its beautiful vocals under a challenging, shrill wall of oldschool low-fi Black Metal sound. And while the evil fog becomes clearer after that, the two main directions Scimitar are going to at the same time, have been established now:
The melodic side of Shaam Larein's vocals stand out more, so this album could potentially be catchier - if it wasn't for the even wilder and Blacker instrumental performance and decidedly uncompromising production.
On side B things get slower, for a while even cleaner, and more epic in the over thirteen minutes long closer "Mobula Mobular", but overall the band still isn't willing to make it easy for you. Other than for example the Italians Ponte Del Diavolo, who are kind of playing in the same wheelhouse, but immediately reach you with their clean production, Scimitar go the other way and drag you through a trial of initiation. You really need to accustom yourself to the raw occult underground aesthetic - only then you get rewarded all the more.
These two albums are a strong foundation for the band's discography, but they are not designed to lift Scimitar out of obscurity. If that happens, it will do so through their ferocious live shows - of which we hopefully will see more. Because as much as I like their studio work, the stage still is where they truly unleash their true potential.
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