"Scarred" Appreciation & Discussion Thread

[SeRoX]

When the Awake survivor run in P/S thread I just realized that Scarred got many love and my hate in the same time. For me; it is the best song in Awake close with Voices.

And for the haters (I don't mean real hate); what reasons behind your hate and the lovers of course?

As a lover; lyrically and musically this song has all the credits in Awake and it has the top moments vocally.

Thoughts?

[Perpetual Change]

I do like Scarred, and it wasn't until hearing it that I really "got" Awake. But I think it's pretty boring until the quiet "do you feel..." section.

[Infinite Cactus]

For me, I love it. I think the intro and chorus are what really stood out the first time I heard it. I just love the way the song builds and builds until "calms me to know that I wont." Lyrically, it's one of JP's best.

[SilentFox]

As a mixed lover/hater:

Intro, lyrics, and all vocals except the chorus are amazing imo.  Probably the best moment on the album in the "do you feel" section.  The problem is that I think it suffers from a Misunderstood/ACoS type of illness: it doesn't end when it should.  Also, the chorus bugs me, even though it's strong lyrically.

I always imagined this song to be between a man and his wife having issues.  "Thirty years say we're in this together."  Although, something tells me its deeper.

[Ultimetalhead]

I love everything about this song except the ending. SHAME upon those who diss the chorus.

[glaurung]

It's a good song and I can see why other people rank it so highly but I have never liked it that much.

[Progmetty]

I think it's totally over-rated, it's a good song but nowhere near DT's best or Awake's best for that matter.

[tbw2445]

It's my favorite song off Awake.

[wasp2020]

I love everything about it.

[EmilSumm]

Top 5 DT song to me, right behind Voices. Love the intro, the lyrics, the instrumental section, the chorus... And the outro is one of my favorite DT moments ever.

[Dimitrius]

THE most overrated song in DT's catalogue, bar none.

Now I will leave this thread.

[orcus116]

ITT: We find out Dimitrius can't read.

[SeRoX]

Now I will leave this thread.

An appreciational manner  

[Perpetual Change]

Every DT song is rated incorrectly except a handful from Scenes & FII, and Metropolis and Learning to Live.

[TL]

Scarred is probably one of my favorite DT songs. Interestingly enough, I didn't even bother listening to it until well after I had gotten into DT, and well after I'd bought Awake. I still don't know why. As soon as I actually listened to it, it became one of my favorites.

It has so much power to it, as well as so many interesting melodies.

[tri.ad]

My third favourite song on Awake, I think. I like it a lot.

[BlobVanDam]

The reason I don't like it is because it contains the worst flow and vocal melodies of probably ANY DT song other than WDADU. It does have some cool riffs and instrumental sections, but the flow is really not good at all. And what I gather is supposed to be the chorus has a really lazy melody line that just goes up and down seemingly randomly.
All of this makes me not care for the song. The fact people gush over it pushes it into hate.

This thread was asking the haters for the reasons they hate the song, so that's all I was doing.

[AcidLameLTE]

Can of worms.

[Bombardana]

haters fail

[BlobVanDam]

you fail

[Fluffy Lothario]

I love everything about this song except the ending.

You mean you don't like the fade?

I think it has a great fade, and find it weird that I never see people give it praise.

Especially since everyone wets themselves over the Learning to Live one, which, strangely enough, never did too much for me.

[SeRoX]

Stop fighting  

Respect the opinions but still haters fail  

[BlobVanDam]

I love everything about this song except the ending.

You mean you don't like the fade?

I think it has a great fade, and find it weird that I never see people give it praise.

Especially since everyone wets themselves over the Learning to Live one, which, strangely enough, never did too much for me.

I just find fade outs in general aren't a great way to end a song. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. It works for LtL and TTT, but for Scarred it's just there. Hard to judge when it just goes into a random silly riff out of nowhere and fades out on it.   It just has no impact, probably because the riff isn't established beforehand. It's just stuck on the end for a fadeout.

[staveoffzombies]

I wouldn't say I hate the song....it's just never grabbed me.  To be honest I've heard it dozens of times, and I still don't think I could play it in my head all the way through.  My mind always tends to wander whenever I listen to it.

I was hoping seeing it done live would improve my opinion of it, but even after that my opinion remained unchanged.

It just bores me.

[Mladen]

Scarred is fantastic, one of my favorites on Awake. LaBrie shines, the chorus rocks, and the ending is just magnificent. Fabulous track...

[TheOutlawXanadu]

"Scarred" is one of the most strangely enjoyed songs in the DT cannon. What I mean is that you can't really rock out to it, there's no "Metropolis"-esque instrumental break that turns your head upside down, and it's not overtly epic ala "Octavarium".

How I enjoy it is by getting swept up by the atmosphere of the thing. I listen to the great lyrics and get caught up in the protagonist's story, which allows for the slower parts toward the beginning to fly by, and then once it kicks into gear mid-way through, I'm hooked. And then everything from "Do you feel..." is pure musical heaven.

It's one of those tunes I feel comfortable in calling a friggin' experience.

[ResultsMayVary]

It's my favorite song off Awake.

[GuineaPig]

Top 3 DT song.  Just amazing.

[TAC]

It's my #3 DT song. I've loved it since the day I bought Awake. I love the lyrics and the outro is pure gold. A phenomenal song IMO.

[perfey]

I love the lyrics and the outro is pure gold. A phenomenal song IMO.

Agreed, everything about this song is awesome, from JM:s intro bass line to the outro, I really like JP:s slow wah stuff in the beginning and Mikes drums. Love James delivery in this song too:


Can't let them rape me again
Your venom's not family here
won't let them fill me with
fatalistic remedies

EDIT: forgot the key-guitar trade section too, its great.

[Fluffy Lothario]

I just find fade outs in general aren't a great way to end a song. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. It works for LtL and TTT, but for Scarred it's just there. Hard to judge when it just goes into a random silly riff out of nowhere and fades out on it.   It just has no impact, probably because the riff isn't established beforehand. It's just stuck on the end for a fadeout.

I can't say I've ever thought about my opinion of fadeouts in general.

I like the way the music is actually building as it fades; off the top of my head, MP is doing all the work, but it has the right effect. The ending has a very different feel to the end of a lot of DT epics. Rather than putting a big musical exclamation mark at the end of the song like for example the Razor's Edge solo, it ends in a sort of quietly confident, assured way. Which reflects how the lyrics to the song ends (turn your back on descent/leaving distrust behind/I'm inspired and content). That fade is actually important in finishing the song's narrative, cos it ends the song in what I feel is quite an optimistic note.

[BlobVanDam]

I just find fade outs in general aren't a great way to end a song. It sometimes works, sometimes doesn't. It works for LtL and TTT, but for Scarred it's just there. Hard to judge when it just goes into a random silly riff out of nowhere and fades out on it.  It just has no impact, probably because the riff isn't established beforehand. It's just stuck on the end for a fadeout.

I can't say I've ever thought about my opinion of fadeouts in general.

I like the way the music is actually building as it fades; off the top of my head, MP is doing all the work, but it has the right effect. The ending has a very different feel to the end of a lot of DT epics. Rather than putting a big musical exclamation mark at the end of the song like for example the Razor's Edge solo, it ends in a sort of quietly confident, assured way. Which reflects how the lyrics to the song ends (turn your back on descent/leaving distrust behind/I'm inspired and content). That fade is actually important in finishing the song's narrative, cos it ends the song in what I feel is quite an optimistic note.

Your explanation makes sense, but I don't think it works for Scarred like it does for LtL or TTT. The rhythm of the riff is too syncopated to give off an optimistic feel, and the fact the riff feels tacked on to the end (to me, at least) makes it feel like an afterthought rather than a strong effort. I think the riff needed to be a bit more straight forward and perhaps something with a stronger purpose within the rest of the song to achieve that goal.

[Fluffy Lothario]

Well, to me, the keyboards actually give the outro the positive feel. I'm not sure why though.

[BlobVanDam]

The keyboard note choice does have a positive feel, but it's the rhythm of everything else that I feel works against it. It feels too chaotic with the drums for me, if that makes sense.

[cygnusx1jg]

Not sure how to explain this, but here goes:  I'm a huge Rush fan, and there is this move that I associate with Rush when they really get in a groove.  Alex and Geddy have done it together on one of their live videos, I think at the end of Subdivisions.  There heads bob and they move the guitar and bass up and down.

Anyway, the outro of Scarred makes me want to do this move.  That's one of the resons I love this song.  Also, it wasn't on the first purchase I made of Awake, since it was a cassette (remember those!).  When I got the CD later on, it was a very nice surprise.