Well, "Dictator" is finally here at least, and I really mean finally, because this album was recorded back in 2012. The reason it has not seen the light of day until now is only because of the SoAD reunion, so Daron could focus more of his attention to that. With that said, he did admit that several of the songs on "Dictator" could just as well have been SoAD songs with a little tweak here and there, which comes as no real surprise since I think everyone who knows of the existence of Scars On Broadway sees the band as a little brother of Daron's main band.
The only real differences between a Scars On Broadway album and a SoAD album is that Daron handles all of the vocal duties, and that it is more classified as heavier rock than metal. Otherwise it is pretty much the same, we got tons of groovy riffs and beats that will make you sway different parts of your body, the intoxicating vocal gymnastics that sticks like glue, and a ton of social commentary to boot. So yeah, there is really no question here, this is basically the closest to a real SoAD album we will get in some time.
One thing I do think this album shows is just how big of an influence Daron actually is for SoAD, putting out a strong effort that just as well could have been the 6th SoAD album. There are just so many memorable songs in here that you could easily follow along with at second listen, like "Never Forget", "We Won't Obey", and the title track. And even though it is not the best song of the bunch, "Angry Guru" does put out an annoying groove that you kind of hate, but kind of also love, and it is only enhanced with the reoccurring line "Nobody hates you more than I do, Nobody loves you more than you do". It is that kind of semi silly groove that only Daron could make acceptable.
To balance things out, we also got some serious stuff thrown in, songs like "Guns Are Loaded", "Till The End", and even to some degree "Never Forget" all have less intensity in them, but instead has power in the lyrics and atmosphere to really reach out to the listener. It is all what you would expect from a release like this, which is kind of curious since Daron has stated that each Scars On Broadway album is gonna have its own style, possibly different guys on each release. As far as I can hear, there is very little difference between this, and the self titled debut record from 2008, so that might be he only disappointing thing about this record, but I think it matters very little since it has been a full decade since we last heard anything resembling SoAD (not including Serj's more symphonic solo records).
So for an album that is six years old, and is basically only released because another band won't release anything new, I dug "Dictator" quite a lot. Sure, Daron does not exactly expand his musical mind here, but he is accurate in his punches, and those punches hit hard I tell you. With the current state of SoAD, we should be happy with the few straws we get, and this will certainly quench your thirst for some groovy alternative hard rock. The grapevine has also told me that Daron will not let the third album take another 10 years, so he will get into the studio as soon as this August. It is a bold strategy, let us see if it pays off.
Songs worthy of recognition: Never Forget, Dictator, Talkin Shit, We Won't Obey
Rating: 8/10 Angry Gurus
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