Album Review: "Only The Ruthless Remain" by Skinless

Only The Ruthless Remain

I've been saying for awhile now that it's really a great time to be a death metal fan.

Of course you're not hearing it on terrestrial radio, but maybe other services.

What's amazing about this time is the resurgence of classic death metal, the original stuff.

We're living in a world where the greats like Carcass and Obituary are touring together. Deicide is playing festivals. Orignators like Master are still out and bashing.

It's also worth  noting that other great metal bands have cropped up and playing traditional death metal, melodic death metal, and even symphonic death metal.

Today's review, Skinless, like Carcass had a long lapse in activity. This is their first album in over ten years. Let me say, welcome back, Skinless.

Skinless

It's amazing what a few decades of technology can do for music.

The Tampa Bay sound, the most prevalent in the USA, had some flaws in the recording.

Skinless has created a work that doesn't suffer from any of those flaws.

This album has a sound unlike most records in the genre.

It's thick. It's throaty and of course it's full of the high gain velocity laden riffs any listener would expect.

What sets it apart is the fuzziness of the sound. It's like what if Jimi Hendrix's amp was set to 10 through a microphone into another amp set on ten with a fuzz face pushing it over the top. The breakup of these guitars is chilling.

Though heavy and full of gore, this album oozes sorrow and anguish. A theme becoming more and more common in extreme metal and it's a refreshing change of pace.

The vocals hurt. The melodic solos weep. It sounds as if the drums are the one thing keeping a man alive.

Release: 6/02/15
Genre: Death Metal
Label: Relapse Records
Facebook Link