The Vancouver metal band, donning medieval garb, is bringing their storytelling, costumes, and heavy music to the Rockwater on Sept. 28.
Formed in late 2008, Scythia is not your older brother’s metal band. Unless that band had an oboe of death, echoes of thunder, and a knack for writing folk metal tunes.
So what is Scythia? At the most primitive level, it is epic storytelling set to modern progressive metal. With a whole lot of dynamic, intense goodness, of course.
Taking its name from vocalist/guitarist Dave Khan’s infatuation with a painting of Nordic/Russian warriors riding bears while brandishing swords, Scythia not only gives the painting musical significance, but it is also the name of an ancient empire spanning from the Caucasus through Russia, and even into eastern Scandinavia.
“The melodies used in our music have a very ancient, sometimes medieval sound, so I wanted to attribute them to an ancient civilization,” says Khan.
Perfecting its unique, “meeting in the middle of intensities” sound, Scythia releases its debut, “…Of War” produced by Shaun Thingvold who has engineered on projects with SYL, Fear Factory, Darkest Hour and many more. Now, following some line-up changes, Scythia is back and its members are ready to brandish their swords on tour.
The melodies used in Scythia’s music have a very ancient, sometimes medieval sound. The vocals are kept clean in order to better deliver a story and are often sung in harmony with backing female vocals to give it a truly “folk-ish” quality
“Folk music is definitely more ambient, pure, and beautiful. Metal is intense, raunchy, and driving. The use of both in songs, combined with dynamic contouring, has the ability to take the listener on the kind of journey that rises to mountain peaks and descends into valleys, in a sonic sort of way,” says Khan.
The band is also made up of oboe-player Morgan Zentner, drummer Celine Derval, and bass-player Terry Savage.
To hear some of their music, go to www.scythia.ca.
