Scaler – Endlessly: Album Review

Live4ever 1 October, 2025

Artwork for the Scaler album Endlessly

3 stars

Scaler deliver a more cohesive and atmospheric album, though not one without limitations.

Bristol’s Scaler (formerly Scalping) made their name by fusing metal instrumentation with the dark mechanics of club culture.

When they first emerged as a live act pre-lockdown, the gigs were pulverising in their intensity and the pandemic came at perhaps the wrong time for them.

townsendmusic banner

Their 2022 debut Void was born in isolation, stitched together remotely, and while it showed off their ferocious energy, it sometimes leaned too heavily on blunt force, almost as if the sheer frustration of the endless days of nothingness were put to music while suffocating any nuance of life.

But on Endlessly (the band’s first release under their new name), they take a more organic and collaborative approach, recording side-by-side in the basement of Bristol’s iconic Louisiana.

The result is a more cohesive and atmospheric album, though not one without limitations.

The record opens with Quiet When It Speaks, a brooding introduction of discordant guitars and industrial echoes that metaphorically places the listener inside a dank chamber.

It’s a tense scene-setter, heavy with cinematic dread which sets out the album’s stall.

From there, Scaler expand their palette by introducing a cast of collaborators: Salt, featuring Akiko Haruna, stands out with trip-hop beats and spectral vocals building into a sultry, modern-metal breakdown, a fusion between Massive Attack and Deftones.

Similarly, Mirage, featuring (and written for) Art School Girlfriend, is a lush yet restrained track that showcases a more introspective side to the band.

Despite the diversions, Scaler don’t abandon their heavier instincts: Broken Entry pounds with metallic force, evoking both Berlin club intensity and Hans Zimmer’s cinematic drama.

Salvation, featuring London rapper Eldon, pushes into industrial rap-rock territory. Dense and punishing, it perhaps throws one too many ideas into the mix.

Elsewhere, Sinking In ramps up the sweaty drum-and-bass propulsion before a left-turn into a swampy breakdown.

Cold Storage is easily the strongest of a handful of instrumentals, its chilly house rhythms unfolding with a surprising lightness of touch, offering a welcome contrast to the denser tracks.

Evolve (with Bristol’s Tlya X An) pulses toward dancefloor euphoria with airy, pop-leaning harmonies that briefly allow light into the murky palette.

If there’s a critique, it’s that they still operate within a fairly familiar industrial/IDM framework, which the album can feel trapped within, even if the tricks are well utilised.

Fans of Nine Inch Nails will recognise many of its tropes for example, and Scaler’s penchant for suffocating atmospherics can become overbearing.

That said, when it deliberately leans into mood over sheer power there is much to appreciate: where Void felt mercenary, here is an album that’s inhabited, more to be lived inside than played live.

Regardless, Endlessly is a step forward; more of a ‘band’ record than before, it balances texture with impact and finds space for unexpected turns without abandoning the live ferocity that made their name.

While it doesn’t break radical new ground, it sharpens Scaler’s identity and points to even greater potential if they continue to loosen the grip of their industrial roots.

Richard Bowes

YouTube video

Tags:richard bowes, SCALER