Scattered Ashes - ​Leave the World Behind

Scattered Ashes

​Leave the World Behind
self-released; 2016

3.7 out of 5

By Jamie Funk

Jon Reynolds (vocals), Richard Dickerson (guitars) and Joe Zuhlsdorf (bass) are Scattered Ashes. The band recently released their debut album entitled Leave the World Behind. This is through and through a hard rock band. 

For me there is a fairly thin line between hard rock that makes me cringe and hard to rock that I get into. Leave the World Behind luckily falls into the latter. I was a big fan of Alice In Chains since the early ‘90s and was reminded of them a couple of times when listening to this album.

My one gripe with this album is that the band sometimes relies in too many tropes you have heard before. For example there were a couple of times where Reynolds is mimicking that Layne Stanley inflection that we have heard replicated countless times. 

The band opens with “Leave the World Behind” which is one of the highlights. Reynolds and the crew do a great job with the delivery. It’s basic, no frills hard rock and could have some comparisons to Queens Of The Stone Age. 

Up next is “Broken Path” which sounds a little more modern. I heard a bit of Everlast in his voice and the song is largely acoustic with warm distortion. Watch out for that classic guitar solo. “Southern Justice” starts with a recorded police call  that is layered over the band playing. The lyrics relate to the sample that was played. Reynolds sings, “Well I ain’t got no reason, I ain’t got no rhyme / Just sitting here in prison and I’m just doin all my time / See I know how I got here, just don’t know why I seem to remember, I had to watch my brother die.”

The band continues with a solid output of songs. “STD (Sweet Tainted Desire),” “Throw Me Away” and the closer “Forever Blind” were highlights.

Leave the World Behind is a cohesive release that had a distinct ’90s hard rock vibe to my ears. The songs are well produced and well written. Recommended.

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