ALBUM REVIEW: Skinless, ‘Savagery’

By: Daniel Jackson

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 11/05/2018

Label: Relapse Records

On “Savagery” Skinless are very clearly still Skinless, they’re just a better and more imaginative version of what they’ve always been  and in the process they’ve come up with an album that stands up to their legacy albums and then some.

‘Savagery’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. Savagery

2. Siege Engine

3. Skull Session

4. Reversal of Fortune

5. Exacting Revenge

6. Medieval

7. Line of Dissent

8. Cruel Blade of the Guillotine

9. The Hordes

Bonus Track:

10. High Rate Extinction (Crowbar Cover)

The Review:

You generally know what you’re getting into when a new Skinless album finds its way to the masses. It’s going to be brutal, ugly death metal, just as they’ve done for more than 20 years now. But it’s also true that even the most diehard death metal devotees are likely to feel a need to toy with their own formula eventually. To a reserved degree; that’s the case on Skinless’ new album ‘Savagery’. The changes the band have undergone with this album are not the sort of abrupt sharp turns in direction of bands like Katatonia or Ulver or even Carcass. Instead, Skinless have gone with a more subtle tact to freshening things up.

One such change, which is obvious from the get-go is that the band has opted for a much warmer, dirtier production this time around. In the past, Skinless has tended to go with a more “brutal death metal standard” production approach, where everything sounds sharp, crisp, to the point of feeling clinical. On ‘Savagery’, a lot of that sharpness is replaced by a grimier guitar tone, and by going with a much more natural, roomy sound over all. The production works exceedingly well at setting this album apart from the rest of the band’s discography without even looking at their compositional choices.

The songs themselves feel different than anything the band have done too. There’s less of a focus on speed. You’ll still find plenty of intricate, hacking riffs, if that’s your thing, but you’ll also find a greater variety to what you’re hearing than Skinless have ever offered. “Siege Engine” tries its hand at bigger, catchier riffs to great success, which should make the track a live staple. Balancing those larger riffs with some blast n’ trem keeps the song from feeling too self-awarely anthemic, but the song’s a self-contained riff machine in either case.

Meanwhile songs like “Exacting Revenge” and “Medieval” have something of a moodier disposition, where the riffs have an almost sludgy texture to them, the pace sometimes slowed to a near crawl. With that in mind, “Medieval” might be the best song on the album. It’s absolutely rotten with ugly harmonizing and apocalyptic chord work. It harkens back to some of the slower moments on Suffocation’s ‘Pierced From Within’, but tackles that sound in a very different way, and the slower breakdowns in the songs second half are absolutely crushing.

It’s not that Skinless have reinvented their own wheel on ‘Savagery’, so much as that they’ve just found new ways to work within their established sound. They’re very clearly still Skinless, they’re just a better and more imaginative version of what they’ve always been. It’s a hard thing, trying to compete with nostalgia and legacy, but Skinless has come up with an album that stands up to their legacy albums and then some. No mean feat for a band twenty years on from their full length debut.

“Savagery” is available digitally, on CD and LP here

Band info: Facebook || bandcamp

Skinless - ‘Only the Ruthless Remain’ (Album Review)

‘For the most part, ‘Only The Ruthless Remain’ is an album that’s good at what it feels most comfortable doing, with it’s best moments coming when it steps outside of that comfort zone’

Album Type: Full length

Date Released: 2/6/2015

Label: Relapse Records

‘Only the Ruthless Remain’ CD//LP//DD track listing:

1. Serpenticide

2. Only the Ruthless Remain

3. Skinless

4. Flamethrower

5. The Beast Smells Blood

6. Funeral Curse

7. Barbaric Proclivity

Skinless is:

Sherwood Webber | Vocals

Noah Carpenter | Guitar

Dave Matthews | Guitar

Joe Keyser | Bass

Bob Beaulac | Drums

Review:

Skinless released their first full length album. ‘Progression Towards Evil’ in 1998, which puts them in a similar timeline with bands like Dying Fetus, Deeds of Flesh, and Disgorge as part of a wave of mid-to-late 90s brutal death metal bands that culled their sound from the likes of Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation, and Broken Hope of the early 90s. There were a number of other notable—along with hundreds of uninteresting— brutal death metal bands around that time as well, as the style was going through something of an oversaturation at the time. I can recall reading in magazines during this time that a lot of it seemed to be a result of Cannibal Corpse’s popularity and unprecedented visibility.

As usually happens with these things; once a subgenre’s moment in the sun winds down, many bands disappeared or moved on to the next thing, likely including a few that got their tips frosted, and then picked up some JNCOs and a Coal Chamber album to help their next endeavour. Others, like Skinless, continued to fight the good fight, even as they’re closing in on the twenty year anniversary of their debut album. While they might be capable of producing better-sounding albums in 2015, the musical formula is essentially “business as usual”.

‘Only The Ruthless Remain’ is one of those rare albums wherein  the quality gets better as the album moves along. It’s no coincidence that the strongest material on the album happens when they open things up a bit more in the second half, especially when they start to throw in those suspended 4th chords Suffocation loved so much on ‘Pierced from Within’. The best example of this is “The Funeral Curse”, particularly in the last two minutes, where those chords are really able to breathe before a wah-driven solo takes over as the focal point. It’s kind of reminiscent of Sepultura’s “Desperate Cry” at that point, which is another song built around those same kinds of chords. The album is good in general, but moments like the that are where I think Skinless may find they truly excel. “Barbaric Proclivity” is another album highlight for its surprisingly catchy opening riff, complemented by a bouncing, galloping beat before breaking down into an excellent, but deliberately-paced solo section at about a minute and a half in.

For the most part, ‘Only The Ruthless Remain’ is an album that’s good at what it feels most comfortable doing, with it’s best moments coming when it steps outside of that comfort zone. It’s hard not to be satisfied with what’s already on offer, but as someone who picked up  ‘Progression Towards Evil’ all those years ago, I’m ready for Skinless to take a few more chances musically, especially when the chances they are taking result in the best moments on the album. They toyed a bit with some of these elements on ‘Trample the Weak, Hurdle the Dead’ as well, so my hope is that this album is Skinless dipping their toe in the water before they finally decide to cannonball the next time around.

Words by: Daniel Jackson

You can pick up a digital copy here and a CD/LP copy here.

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