To Kill for Skin

When one sees the classification of "brutal/melodic" death metal, it would entice the curiosity as to how such a sound could be pulled off. This was the case with this album in regard to my interest in it. After some listens, the closest of comparisons I could give would be a less "epic" version of France's Kronos. Of course, the lack of an epic sound does not denote a failure in quality, by any means. Essentially, this album is an amalgamation of melodeath a la earlier Arsis, groovy death metal akin to Dying Fetus' Stop At Nothing, and many contemporary brutal death metal acts, with the varying influences showing up with a fluctuating obviousness. At times (Such as the beginning of "The Grudge Gear) one can obviously discern the riff as a stereotypical At The Gates-riff. On the beginning of "Contract of Blood" one will note all three influences are fairly evenly distributed.

Regardless of the album's brutality, it is an amazingly melodic, and dare I say catchy, listen in comparison to many modern-day death metal bands that dabble in extremity. It's refreshing in many ways that they seem ill-content to settle upon a single sound or influence to employ, and instead of this conflicting and making a poor record, it allows for a more unique listen than most releases of this genre would give.

With regard to the players of this album, they are quite impressive. The guitar player provides the main outlook into the band's many influences, as his is the style that changes most often, providing crushing rhythms and some wonderfully melodic leads that range from the slow to the unbelievably fast and technical (The guy sweeps like crazy on "Kill For Skin" to punctuate the end of a rhythm!). The drummer provides a touch of chaos without resorting to constant blasting that many of modern DM's detractors seem to detest so fervently, his double bass sound is particularly of note to myself. The bassist, I cannot hear. He is there, I am certain, but as with almost every metal record I've heard, he's been shafted in the mix. The vocalist is a fairly typical death metal vocalist, some might even say generic. The only thing I particularly dislike of his performance is when he chooses to indulge in the often (Justifiably) maligned pig squeals, which thankfully he rarely does.

I would say that this album has something to offer death metal fans regardless of particular sub-genre preference, though I would strongly recommend this to someone that believes melodeath is simply "not hard enough" for them.