ALBUM REVIEW: Savagery – Skinless

Death metal veterans SKINLESS are a band that have, over the last quarter of a century, cemented themselves as one of the most impressive brutal death metal acts on the planet, earning them a place as one of the most avidly appreciated bands within the genre.

This is due, in no small part, to their versatility and musical variety over the years. In a sub-genre where many bands opt to focus solely on creating incredibly fast, ferocious music that, at times, is over the top when it comes to aggression and equally gruesome subject matter, this New York based five piece often allow room within their songs for a more expansive sound and plenty of groove orientated riffs, rather than choosing to produce one cacophonous, impenetrable wall of noise after another. Due to this, they’ve managed to establish a solid following and plenty of well deserved respect within the scene. Their latest, sixth full length album, simply entitled Savagery, is yet another astounding display of intricate musicianship and sonic intensity that can only further establish their pedigree within the extreme metal landscape.

The album’s opening, titular track, Savagery, doesn’t pull any punches, creating a dark and aggressive atmosphere right off the bat, providing the listener with some incredibly dense, vicious music, from tar-like bass lines to machine gun tight drumming, with powerful, crushing guitar hooks and sludgy gutturals giving life to this song. It’s a mostly mid-paced affair, peppered with catchy, melodic fills, sudden bursts of speed and memorable grooves that draw the listener in quickly, and set the tone for the following eight tracks. Siege Machine is a far more groove-laden offering, with robust guitar lines acting as the driving force of the music. This is a much more overtly ferocious and intense piece of music, featuring plenty of blisteringly fast sections in amongst the oppressive, chugging rhythms that counterpoint them. The vocals are as unflinchingly dark and impressive as the music, with shrill shrieks interspersed in between the deep, bestial roars that make up most of the singing on here.

Skull Session is another atmosphere-laden track, with chunky- rhythmic guitar and bass lines creating a solid musical base, occasionally straying into much more chaotic and feral sounding brutal death metal, centred around speed, aggression and top tier musicianship. Incorporating forceful down-picking, dancing melodies and bleak discordance, it’s also a very varied track that utilises a lot of different elements to make the song as captivating as possible.

Reversal of Fortune acts as a short interlude which does an excellent job of acting as a palette cleanser, with slower tempos, cleaner guitar tones and prominent melodicism to take the music in a far more different direction before launching directly back into the album’s heavier and more fierce sound. Exacting Revenge is another vicious slab of dense, monolithic sounding death metal from SKINLESS, characterised by robust, chugging guitar lines, intricate drumming and impressively sludgy gutturals. It makes great use of jarring time changes, sparse melodic fills and the powerful rhythm section, providing some of the most intense and frenetic moments on the whole record. The sixth track, Medieval, again makes great use of cleaner, more dissonant guitar pieces, and has a strong DEATH influence to its initial motif. It’s a slow burning track that gathers pace and intensity as it progresses, with the guitars shifting gradually to much bleaker tones, eventually going from an almost dirge like crawl to a much groovier, mid-paced affair. The lead guitar tracks give the listener some dark and eerie passages that really help build a grim and foreboding sound that gives it much more weight and power.

Line of Dissent is a far more visceral offering, and quickly proves to be one of Savagery‘s key highlights. It’s an exercise in aggression and tight, rhythmic musicianship, with some brilliant guitar work in particular marking it out from the songs that have preceded it. Switching between haunting melodies and thick, crunching, down-picked rhythms, it manages to blend excellent, catchy and memorable hooks with a distinct, primal edge. Cruel Blade of the Guillotine is yet another unexpected change of pace for SKINLESS, with slow, morose and unerring melancholic guitars setting the tone for the song, before it heads down a well trodden, brutal death metal path as it continues. It’s an incredibly solid piece of music, and illustrates perfectly just how tight this band can be. It features some genuinely hair raising lead guitars, and it’s hard not to get sucked into this track by its unrelentingly, juggernaut playing on all fronts.

It’s quickly followed by the short, sharp shock of The Hordes, a crushing and dark instrumental that brings the able to a fitting climax in its brief, two minute play time. The guitar and drum work on this song is incredibly impressive, and brings the album proper to a close on a very epic and memorable note. The final track on the record, which acts as bonus material, High Rate Extinction, is a short, sharp shock to groove-laden riffs, precise, powerful drumming and tar thick bass lines and vocals. It’s another heavy, intense piece of music, shrouded in dense guitar and bass tones, that helps end Savagery on a high point, leaving listeners eager for more.

Many bands, by the sixth record, are slowly but surely beginning to run out of ideas and losing their edge. SKINLESS are definitely not one of those bands. There’s a plethora of excellent music on offer on this album, and there’s enough variety on offer to win over fans of the slower, heavier style as much as those who love their death metal played at a breakneck pace. Everything from the musicianship to the tone and production value on this album is absolutely brilliant, and it’s hard to find a dull moment at any point in this releases thirty-seven minute span. It’s a great record, whether you’re a die hard fan or just want to check them out and see what they’re about, and could prove, in years to come, to be one of their finest offerings.

Rating: 8/10

Savagery is out now via Relapse Records.

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