Anecdotally, we hear that people can tell within a minute of meeting someone new whether they are potential partners, or if the 'friend zone' is the velvet rope they will never be allowed past. In that way, bands are subject to the same sense of immediacy, where it only takes a few seconds to know if their sound and attitude is something we could love, something we might mildly enjoy, or something we never want to hear again. Musical pheromones may not exist, but 'love at first listen' is absolutely a thing.
For new bands, the first impression is the most important thing they will ever do. Overcoming the limitations of our psychology is a tall order, and while we have been told since we were children not to judge books by their covers, we all know that's a part of life that saves us an incalculable amount of time.
Sapient Scar is making that first impression, but is slapping us in the face with a particular hue of color we have seen many times before. VK Lynne is the recognizable front-woman of this group, now backed by a powerful group that channels the chunky riffing of modern heavy metal. The guitars are thick and soupy, picking both an angular groove and a thrashy chunk. The tandem of Allie Kay and David Ruiz are pulling from the palate of Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell on Trouble's stone-cold classic 1990 self-titled album. That gives this song the feeling of a contemporary bit of swing music, albeit with denim and leather rather than zoot suits, all while shifting our head-banging tempo from section to section.
The band is not playing coy as they come out of the gates, playing off the lyrics that delve into that topic. VK sings of someone with the "little voice of a little girl", who builds a world around her that will soon crumble under the reality of what society has in store for her. What society doesn't realize is that she has something in store for it as well.
She plays up her weakness to lull those who don't understand a woman's power into a false sense of security, catching them by surprise when she unleashes her strength upon them. Weak is the weapon takes on a dual meaning, as she uses weakness to camouflage her weaponry to make the maximum impact, but just as much the weaponry society aims at her is weaker than those brandishing it will know... until it's too late.
Some men seem surprised to find out that women are indeed members of the same species, which might actually be understandable, because I sometimes struggle to see how those sorts of men and I are made of the same building blocks of life. In their minds, with a twisted version of what science tells us, there is an inverted sense of 'genus envy' taking place. And yes, that whole convoluted bit was just so I could make that joke.
When we see a spider, the threads she spins might appear weak as they reflect the sunlight, but we find out how strong they are once we are trying to pull them out of our hair. Society is still learning that lesson when it comes to women, or perhaps it is trying to create circumstances where the truth is no longer true. In either case, there is a potency to a woman belting out the truth over the fury of a metal band that can't be captured any other way. If we are listening, that is.
VK may have gotten her start singing the blues, but she is equally adept at seeing red. To return to our dating metaphor, Sapient Scar uses these first minutes to look over from across the room at us, giving the wrinkle of a smile as their eyes gleam, inviting us to come into their gravity. There's no doubt they make the impression we'll certainly be seeing each other again.
"Weak Is The Weapon" releases on September 12th. Pre-save it here!
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