Six Scars is a one-man metal project hailing from southwest Virginia. Heavily influenced by the many subgenres of rock and metal, Six Scars began his journey by exploring the more melodic and ethereal realms of shoegaze on his debut album, To Wilt and to Bloom. He has played with other subgenres, such as nu metal and alt-rock, in the intervening years, yet now, in 2024, he has returned to his roots.

The Silence and the Withering, the latest EP from Six Scars, was released on February 16, 2024. Driven by introspection, this record offers six hauntingly beautiful songs, written with self-reflection and painted in sounds.

The EP opens with “Another Scar,” a track lamenting wasted time and a life not lived. “Another scar, another excuse to not get off your ass and move/There’s a whole world waiting, but you already died,” the chorus erupts in frustration, and how often is this the case? How many times have we had plans, goals, dreams, that we were too afraid to pursue, and then suddenly, we’re looking back on the years that have passed with regret? “I wanna rewind, I wanna live my life,” our narrator says in conclusion, but that is an impossibility.

The next four songs – “Damaged From the Start,” “Dead Nothing,” “Dionysius,” and “Mausoleum” – are a tableau dedicated to the one thing none of us are immune from: love. Six Scars pendulums from the depths of heartbreak to a seemingly idyllic representation of that endlessly discussed emotion. For instance, in “Damaged From the Start,” he writes, “I owned you, you owned me, this orgasmic catastrophe,” hinting at a mutually toxic relationship. 

“Dead Nothing” ventures a step further, diving into the depths of manipulation and torment the narrator experiences – and the resulting desire for vengeance. “You played me like a puppet, dancing to your every whim/But not the tables have turned, and it’s your turn to face this sin.”

We are then taken back to when the love was new, pure, perfect, though there is still an acknowledgment that it was tainted from the start. In “Dionysius,” the narrator fondly reminisces on the past. “My Dionysius, my odyssey…we’d fly away into the ether, never knowing what we were leaving/And the cosmos united for us when we retreated…” However, he soon admits that he lost himself to his lover and their shared addictions, including what could be the most damaging one – each other.

The lovers’ tale ends with “Mausoleum,” and despite the title, it is not as dark as one would assume. “Holding onto each other’s energy to feel the grip of love, a burning desire to become one/Holding onto each other’s energy to feel the grip of love/A burning desire to fill this mausoleum.” In the throes of passion, perhaps our narrator finds himself so happy he could die? Their union is still referred to as “unholy,” the underlying awareness that they are not meant to be ever-present, yet it is easy to overlook when “I’m dreaming, I’m feeling alive for the first time/I’m holding onto you.”

The Silence and the Withering closes with “My Finale,” a song that seems to tie together the opening and the four-part tableau. He mentions wanting there to be “no regrets about the life that I have led,” then says “Leaving ever-after, I’ll see your face again one day.” This could be a reference to any number of people in his life, but I perceived it to be aimed at his lover. Interestingly, his final line is “I, the villain, close the curtain.” Was our narrator truly his own worst enemy? 

This EP is an unflinching study of the storyteller, and there are parts that will universally resonate with listeners. We have all wasted time, feared rejection, dragged our heels when we should have been chasing dreams. We have all fallen in love, romantically or otherwise, and been burned for our efforts. And we have all, by necessity, played the villain at some point in our own story.

The Silence and the Withering is available to stream everywhere now!

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