SCIMITAR - Scimitarium I / Scimitarium II

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.

Scimitar live in Copenhagen

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.

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. 

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.

A COLOSSAL WEEKEND 2024 • DAY THREE: Saturday, May 18th • feat. ALPHA DU CENTAURE, ATTAN, BIG|BRAVE, EXTRA LIFE, HALVCIRKEL, KAIRON; IRSE!, LITE and SCIMITAR

All reviews of A Colossal Weekend 2024:

DAY 1   |   DAY 2   |   DAY 3

The previous night had ended with me sitting in bed, looking at the pictures on my phone... and from one moment to the next it suddenly already was morning! Light still on, glasses still on my nose, but I had slept like a baby.

The last festival day would begin earlier, but I still had a lot of time on my hands. Instead of doing another big tourist expedition with several cameras, I decided to have at least a little mercy on my feet and only did a little of that. Instead I mainly focussed on a shopping spree through a handful of second hand record stores, which were all relatively close together.

And even though my taste allows so many different possibilities (and I also looked through all kinds of stuff from Ambient to Dansk Black Metal) I ended up with a wholesome bag of Jazz, picking um some cool records - all in satisfying shape for their respective prices - from Miles Davis (60`s and 80`s), Weather Report, The Modern Jazz Quartet and The Oscar Peterson Trio, Billy Cobham and Georg Duke and Nancy Sinatra.

Ha! So much for the "Guess where I'm going tonight based on my shopping bag!" game.

No, it' wasn't only the name which gave away that Alpha Du Centaure, who started today's proceedings, hailed from France. Both the Post Rock (hello Where Mermaids Drown!) as well as the Alcest Blackgaze elements in their music pointed towards their French heritage. A couple of synth here and there added a certain space vibe to their versatile sound, which was impressively carried by one of the happiest looking blast-beat drummers I've ever seen. Ok, maybe the guy in Wormrot still takes the cake...

The most compelling piece of the puzzle however might have been singer Nina who mastered harrowing screeches and a pained clean vocal performance in a way which reminded me of Oathbreaker's Caro Tanghe. Even though I'm not completely sure what story their music was supposed to tell me, I definitely enjoyed this start into the late afternoon a lot.

Speaking of a lot. The intensity of the Norwegians Attan upstairs on the Lounge stage was almost a little too much for me at this point. Almost. If something's pushed towards and beyond its boundaries as much as the brutality of this absolutely mean (Post) Hardcore beating, how can you not love it, no matter how much it pummels you into the ground?

Boy, it really was a lot though. I just wanted to have a good time here and these dudes wer sooo fucking angry. Ok, admittedly that contributed to my good time. Do I sound conflicted or confused? Guess Attan achieved their goal then.

From now on there would be some instances when two, at one point even three shows would clash and demand decisions. The first one was made very easy by my downright physical need for something more calm and introspective. Halvcirkel provided that and more in the Ideal Bar. While more and more listeners just sat down on the floor to take the music of the Danish string trio in, it was obvious that their own material showcased a lot more of their capabilities than their already impressive collaboration with Afsky had done on Thursday.

This was not just some easy listening Modern Classical starred restaurant's lobby music, but very interesting material, which perfectly married beautiful and unsettlig dramatic arrangements, emotional playing and precise skills, at least as far as a string knowledge noob like me can judge.

All I can say is that I was truly immersed into this utterly wonderful performance. Easily one of my favorite shows of the festival! 

As my main reason (besides the external Laibach show the night before) to even come to Copenhagen this year drew nearer, I didn't even have the first band on the Little Vega stage on my list - and my preparation for this weekend's programme had been very fast and fleeting anyway.
So without a doubt the super funky brainmelter Psychedelic Post Rock Jazz Fusion with a Far Eastern touch, which Lite from Japan slapped, grooved and hammered into the room was a delightful party surprise. If this wasn't jaw-dropping crazy yet danceable fun, then what is?

Too bad I missed the limited merch time slot before the band had to leave to the airport. But while they were selling their album, I just had to be up in the Lounge again...

I don't even know what I can say anymore without repeatedly parroting myself. Every single time I see this raw, fragile, crushing, minimalist maximalist Canadian Drone Rock trio live, it just makes me fall all over in love with their music again. And why would it be different here? Just like last year at Roadburn Big|Brave even brought My Disco's bass player as a fourth member on tour with them again. And prolific as they are they obviously already presented material from a new album.

I could have bathed in the waves of their incredibly satisfying, physically tangible guitar sound for hours. Like always really - such a warm embrace of noise! Starting with their flawless compositions and the great chemistry of RobinMathieuTasy+Liam this band just does everything right. After my sixth time seeing them I still have a hard time detecting anything but perfection. Yeah, guess what - I'm a fan. How can anyone not be?

Not a surprise, but a welcome non-surprise: This was my number one favorite show of A Colossal Weekend. 

Big|Brave's show had such an impact on me that I just couldn't immediately go to the next thing, but needed a real break. So despite there being no timetable conflicts I broke with my plan of watching Afsky., even though I would have been interested in seeing their other "regular" Black Metal side after the collaborative Chamber Music performance with Halvcirkel. But more than casually lending an ear while passing by just wasn't possible right now.

And I was still sceptical that anything could impress me during the rest of the night, when I once again entered the Lounge...

Since the festival had been plagued with more than one short-term cancellation, there couldn't have been many fans who were truly prepared for this new Danish  band, which was announced on short notice.

Fronted by the singer of Shaam Larein, who had played in the Basement last year, Scimitar didn't exactly fit the quick description on the festival homepage, which said "70's, progressive and psychedelic heavy equilibrium". Ok, all that may be kind of accurate, but doesn't give you the whole truth about how fucking intense this group really is.
My impression rather was watching a NWoBHM / Hard Rock band with occasional Thrash Metal style guitar shredding outbursts, but turning the overall energy, tempo and heaviness far beyond eleven, so that they ended raging like a ferocious Black Metal band, without actually setting a foot into that genre.

Maybe Scimitar are a raw high-speed version of Healthyliving or Dool with devils standing directly behind them, whipping them into chaotic frenzy. Wild! Even though the name isn't the most google-friendly / original (not the first band with this problem here, see Katla) - this band will hopefully tract attention and turn and bang many heads soon!

In the Little Vega thing got weird (or stayed weird?) now. Or let's say there were genre-bending Psychedelic Heavy Rockers from Finland on stage. Isn't Finland in itself almost as much of an explanation as Japan?

Krautrock, falsotto-voiced Shoegaze, Psych Dream Pop and hardly (down to the sub-genre) definable Metal came together in a fascinating mix. Still weird somehow, but good weird.

What a way to end an already diverse night with a band that doesn't really sound like - or even close to - any other artist I know! The only things I knew about Extra Life was that none other than Kayo Dot's Toby Driver was the bassist of the current line-up, his partner on various occasions (like his 2018 solo tour) Timba Harris was playing violin and trumpet, and that I had once seen frontman / mastermind Charlie Looker gush about Godflesh for an hour on bis YouTube channel. And all that - combined with the fact that they were the only band closing the festival at this late hour anyway - was easily enough to be intrigued. And rightfully so!

So how can I describe their sound without overusing the word experimental? A super dry and powerful (think early Danzig), extremely precise rhythm section playing odd Math Rock signatures, which seldom really took off, but relished tension. Guitar and violin provided riffs, chords, melodic fragments and textures and the vocals... One might me tempted to call Looker's performance excentric or theatrical, but mostly it was completely out of time, as in time-travelled from centuries ago.

So in a nutshell imagine a medieval bard being tossed into the middle of the New York Avante-Garde Rock scene. Does that help? Yeah, some stuff has similarities to some of Driver's oeuvre, but all in all the sound of Extra Life is just... extra. Yes, this was a curious, yet very inspiring way to end this creatively curated, artistically adventurous festival. Kudos, Colossal Weekend!