Customer Rating:  
Summary: More Bark, More Bite
Comment: "Scars Remain" is one of Disciple's heaviest offerings to date. The self-titled album preceding this one had a more melodic tone to it, and that can still be found here, but this Southern Gospel has a whole lot more barking, screeching and clawing to it. In short, this is full-on heavy metal that rocks. Songs like "Regime Change" and "Game On" provide plenty of fist-pumping, and "Fight For Love" has anthem potential despite being one of the tamer tunes on the album. The entire album is very addictive, and you'll find yourself barking along with the whole album soon enough.
If you enjoy heavy metal with blistering guitars and screeching vocals, this is the album for you. It's one of the best I've heard from current Christian and secular metal bands. I highly recommend it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: We live, we die, we fight for love!
Comment: Disciple stormed the scene in 2005 with the release of a self-titled CD. Though it was not their first release, the album showed a maturity that their previous efforts did not fully achieve. Just over a year later, they returned with a blistering release entitled Scars Remain. Despite releasing two CDs in less than 2 years, the music on this release is exceptionally strong. In fact, they returned somewhat to their older ways, including many aggressive tracks on SR.
Songs like Regime Change, the title track, Game On, and Fight for Love are sure to melt your face with their straight-out heaviness. Drums are pounding, guitars are wailing, and vocals are screeching. As far as heaviness, this album makes their previous release seem almost pop-ish. And yet there remains a certain amount of melodic beauty to this one. The choruses are extremely catchy and are, for the most part, singable by the average person. It's in the verses that lead vocalist Kevin Young turns it up a notch. Screams that for me personally, at times amaze while at other times irritate.
There are two ballads on SR, in a sense duplicating the format of their previous release. Despite their contrast to the rest of the album, they are powerful in their own way. "After the World" and "No End at All" are so different from the rest of the album you'd think a different band stormed the studio and forced their way onto the album. But it's Disciple, make no mistake.
Lyrically this is a brilliant album. It remains rooted in Scripture as their previous releases did. I love that these guys are not watering down their message for a more universal acceptance. When you are as talented as these guys, recognition will come despite, and maybe even because of, their Christ-centered lyrics. This is a great album from start to finish, and I recommend it heavily (pun intended).
Customer Rating:
Summary: Still listening
Comment: I like the music but I'm still listening for some hidden gems I can really get hooked on - I wish the lead singer didn't have such a whiny voice! They need Scott Stapp...
Customer Rating:
Summary: Disciple ROCKS!
Comment: Before this CD, I didn't particularly care for Disciple. But after seeing them in concert the week it came out, I decided to try it and fell in love with their music. This CD has a song for everyone. If you're more into the inspirational or slower stuff, I'd suggest "After the World" and "No End at All." For those of you who like the heavier stuff that Disciple is known for, I'd suggest "Scars Remain," "Game On," "My Hell," and "Fight for Love." It's a great CD, a great band, and a great message that they're putting out there. After listening to this, I went from not even knowing the names of the band members, to knowing every single lyric to every song on this CD.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Not what it should be
Comment: Disciple is a band that, unfortunately, seems unable to find its way to the top of any audience's favorites list. Too unpolished to reach the top of the Christian rock scene and too typical to gain success in more indie-oriented circles, Disciple is perpetually cursed to mediocrity.
Admittedly, this album is a step in the right direction, seeming an improved successor both to the recent, pop-oriented self-titled album and the older, rawer releases like By God and Back Again. The beats are fast and the guitar riffs faster in songs like "Dive", "Regime Change", and "Game On". Unfortunately, the songs never seem to go much farther than that, opting for paths beaten to dust ten years ago or more rather than newer sounds.
The lyrics have enough biblical allusions to satisfy the religious audience, and the riffs have the tired feel that make this exactly the type of release that "old-school" Christian rockers will love, complete with the sleep-inducing power ballad "No End at All". However, in a scene that is increasingly developing lyrical and musical depth, Scars Remain simply can't compete--it has nothing really new to offer.
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