I really don't like Scarsick. I don't know why, because it's not like it's all horrible. When I browse through the songlist, there are some songs like Enter Rain and Flame to the Moth, both are amazing. I would also say that the title-track, America and Kingdom of Loss are pretty sweet as well. Still, that's about half of the album. The rest is sort of "meh".
Musically it's not horrible. There is worse music out there. But there is something about it that I just dislike. It feels a bit like Daniel has more misses than homeruns on it. I do like his range and I think his vocal range is what makes BE such a fantastic record for example, but on Scarsick it feels like he is trying even more to be as "out there" as possible with his voice, and it's just where it all falls apart.
It just feels very scattered. For some of the songs it feels like there could be a different singer for each song, and a song like "Disco Queen" to me is the perfect showcase of taking the fun aspect of PoS and crossing the line, making it really bad. It just leaves a very bad taste, and in comparison to a song like America where the goofy aspects works in the songs favor, in Disco Queen they are working against it.
But yeah, I just feel like there is a certain line that Daniel crosses on Scarsick that makes me dislike it. Like I said, I love his range on BE, and I don't mind him using different vocal techniques, but on Scarsick it feels like he tries even more to sing every section in a different way, and it just falls flat. The music is not bad, but also doesn't live up to previous albums (apart from 2 songs). That's what I love the most about the Road Salt albums really, it was Daniel taking a step back again and his singing doesn't bother me on those two albums. I think Road Salt One leaves a bit to be desired, but Road Salt Two is amazing.