Different Takes on Classic Genres
Huntsmen are a fairly new act and meet their first LP release with American Scrap. With a combination of classic rock, traditional metal, country and a variety of vocal ranges, Hunstmen managed to put together a truly eclectic piece of music with this album.
The best thing about American Scrap is that everything on it blends so well together. From the very beginning the listener is treated to acoustic glory in “Bury Me Deep,” a song that puts together styles of Wish You Were Here era Pink Floyd and country choral vocals. The album starts out incredibly strong with this track as it immediately presents the range of the band’s musicality.
Moving on from the first song, “Pyre” engages where “Bury Me Deep” left off, but starts to pick up some intensity in the form of distortion and rough vocals. Although it seems extremely different from the first track, it contains similar elements of some speakable vocals and impactful guitar hits. The guitar melodies expand here a bit with distortion and paint a destructive picture in a very Black Sabbath doom metal approach.
The rest of the album continues the trend of mixing soft and hard rhythms to create an enjoyable and evolving listening experience. A few real album highlights come in the beginning of “Canary King” and in the middle of “Atlantic City,” where clean singing takes the spotlight. Although the rough vocals are a welcome addition, the clean vocals are certainly more pleasing to hear and they round out the band’s sound nicely when they come in as a juxtaposition to the sometimes harsh instrumentation.
The band clearly likes to give a modern take on classic sounds. Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and other influences come out in every one of the tracks on American Scrap. A short album with only six tracks that are not interludes, American Scrap is a phenomenal debut for Huntsmen, who can only continue to refine their unique sound with each coming release.
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