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Skinless > From Sacrifice to Survival > Reviews
Skinless - From Sacrifice to Survival

Chug done right - 82%

vegetable, December 12th, 2009

Skinless' brand of brutal death metal sticks pretty close to the blueprint most of the time. Groovy riffs with plenty of chug, crushing breakdowns, and a bottom-heavy production. However, they keep the formula from going stale by being very competent songwriters, and adding a few new ideas on each release.

First thing you'll notice about this album is that the production job is stellar. The guitars are loud, clear and crunchy. The bass has a very pleasing tone, and you can hear it filling out the bottom end on the riffs as well as working its magic in a few interludes. The drumming sounds powerful and varied and complements the rhythms created by the riffs extremely well. There is a fair amount of variety in the vocals, going from deep enough to blend in with the rhythm to a harsher, slightly higher rasp that carries over the music. The phrasing is also excellent. There are even a few vocal melodies on some of the songs that do not feel the least bit out of place.

The dialogue samples that Skinless typically used at the beginning of songs on previous releases are done away with here, as are some of the more overt references to gore and bodily excretions. Which removes a lot of playfulness from the album, making it sound grittier.

The music is mostly mid-paced with a few faster sections within the songs. Mid-paced death metal can easily end up being boring but this album has no such problems. Catchiness pervades the album as riff after heavy riff flows along. None of the riff transitions sound abrupt. The songs move seamlessly from slow, grinding riffs to tremolo bursts and faster sections to heavy breakdowns, with traces of melody here and there, the vocals diving in and out of the churning rhythms. The album begins somewhat weakly with an intro on the first song, The Front Line of Sanity, that abruptly transitions to full on death metal, but such moments are few and far between. The song settles into a comfortable groove quickly, and sets the tone for the album. That is broken up for a brief interval with a quite atmospheric instrumental, following which, the brutality is resumed for the remainder of the album. All the brutal cliches are here; from ridiculous amounts of "chug" in the riffs to pinch harmonic laden breakdowns, but the execution is excellent and it is all expertly weaved together into catchy songs.

If you're looking for simple, straightforward and headbangable death metal, this album should deliver it.