From the opening track, “Nevermind if it all explodes, I’ll die anyway,” SCARE sets the tone with an explosive punk-infused tempo. The raw production enhances the intensity, making the short, searing track feel like a grenade tossed into the void. “PMA : Pessimistic Mental Attitude” follows with a visceral contrast between breakneck speed and suffocating groove, showcasing the band’s ability to balance aggression with calculated pacing.
As the album progresses, “Drifted Away” delivers an ominous, blackened hardcore attack, its brief runtime akin to a gasoline fire—raging, then gone. “The Black Painting” shifts the tone darker, its slower groove amplifying the oppressive atmosphere, while “Thrash Melrose” injects a chaotic, thrash-fueled energy into the mix. Midway through the album, “Crowned In Yellow” leans into blackened elements, its eerie guitar work giving way to a sprinting assault.
The two “Doomynation” tracks serve as the album’s doom-laden pillars. The first, “Doomynation,” is a cavernous, slow-burning interlude featuring sparse yet bone-chilling screams. Later, “Doomynation 2” closes the album with unsettling soundscapes, offering no reprieve from the album’s overarching sense of despair.
Other highlights include “Jeanne Dark,” a twisted, groove-heavy track that drags the listener through a soundscape of desolation, and “Midnight Ride,” a sonic burst of reckless abandon that feels like tearing down an empty highway at night. “Harakiri Ton Industrie” utilizes haunting, sludgy chord progressions reminiscent of Black Sabbath’s devilish fifths, eventually accelerating into yet another high-speed aural beating. The album’s penultimate track, “Reality of Death in the Maze of Hope,” stands as its most venomous, its title alone a reflection of the existential dread permeating the record.
Despite the album’s stated theme of “hopeful optimism,” that aspect is difficult to discern beneath the suffocating weight of its sound. The music instead revels in the anxiety and decay of modern life, reflecting a world where optimism is but a fleeting thought buried beneath layers of distortion and anguish. It’s a sound that fans of Cursed, Buried Inside, and Trigger Effect will find both punishing and deeply cathartic.
Ultimately, In The End, Was It Worth It? is a visceral, unrelenting experience—a collection of anthems for the disillusioned. Whether it offers hope or simply a soundtrack to our collective downfall is up to the listener to decide. Either way, it’s one hell of a ride.
SCARE Tour Dates:
2/16/2025 Le Zaricot – Saint Hyacinthe, QC
2/22/2025 L’ANTI Bar & Spectacles – Québec, QC *Record Release Show
2/28/2025 B7– Montréal, QC
3/01/2025 Petite Boite Noire – Sherbrooke, QC
3/14/2025 Café du clocher – Alma, QC
3/15/2025 Paradox – Saguenay, QC
SCARE:
Gabrielle Noel Begin – guitar
Jon Fillion – bass
Xavier Laprade – drums
Philip Roy – vocals/sampler
FOR FANS OF:
Cursed, Mi Amore, Buried Inside, Trigger Effect, From Ashes Rise, Pulling Teeth, Baptists, Xibalba, Cult Leader, Doomriders
GENRES:
Metallic Hardcore, Sludge Metal
Source: www.antiheromagazine.com
