Skeletonwitch- Forever Abomination

Forever Abomination is the new album, released today, October 11,2011, from the Ohio metal band Skeletonwitch.  Most of the bands I listen to are relatively unknowns when mentioned in conversation, however for those that are keen on the metal scene, these bands are household names.

Skeletonwitch offers a mixture in the way they present their sound.  You really can’t define them as any one subgenre within the heavy metal universe.  While not as varying in sound as say a band like Between the Buried and Me, they do change things up quite a bit, from track to track and even between chorus’ within each track.  The majority of Skeletonwitch’s songs are high tempo.  They typically combine an in your face guitar style with a seemingly ever-present drumbeat.  But make no bones about it, if you’re into this band, you are there for the raspy, nether worldly sounding vocals of Chance Garnette.

The bands latest release, Forever Abomination, picks up where breathing The Fire, the 2009 release, left off.  They’ve changed things up a bit for the new record though.  For starters Derrick Nau, drums, is out and Dustin Boltjes is in.  While darkened themes are still prevelant throughout the majority of the songs here, the album is quite a bit more melodic when compared to previous releases. For me, anytime a band can increase melody, it’s a plus, that is if they are able to retain that in your face attacking style of guitars, and of course the trademarked vocals.  Skeletonwitch is able to combine the heavy of heavy rifts with the rhythmic melodies that put a bit of sway into the songs, all the while showcasing Chance’s vocal prowess.  In fact, I might even go so far, as I’ve only listened to the album about four times now, that these melodic elements seem to coincide perfectly with Chance’s singing, almost adding a bit of “flow” to his words. 

Many metal bands carry stigmas around with them.  Often they’re categorized as black, or death or whatnot, and while themes and lyrical content can be used in many instances to advance these stereotypes, I have to say that if you go around only listening to songs that are positive in nature, or each member of a group is completely vetted out to what you, or others for that matter, deem acceptable, well then you’ll be drastically reducing the selection of music you have to choose from.  This dilemma, if you choose to call it as such, is ever more prevalent in the world of metal, especially if you’re dealing with groups who may not be on the mainstream level yet. 

Why is this? 

Well I think a number of factors might be at play here.  First I’d say packaging, web-site design and the like have a great influencing factor.  Many metal groups include pictures of what most would consider grotesque and just uncomfortable to look at.  Then you have the way many of the vocals sound, the most popular styles being the guttural, screeching and ghastly.  These styles don’t sit too well with the mainstream music listener.  You’ll often hear why do they make themselves sound like that?  Or most often you’ll hear a blanket statement like “I can’t understand a word they’re saying.”  Finally I would say lyrical content, and overall themes tow the line a bit, moving all across the board, typically settling on themes of death, destruction, betrayal and evil. 

So how could I listen to groups like this?

My answer to this question is so easy for me.  I don’t pay any attention to what other people say.  I don’t care about pictures or images, and if I do, instead of looking at the image as a representation of something ugly or evil, I look at the artistic qualities needed to compose such images.  The vocals, at first I have to admit, were tough to understand in many cases.  But after a while you get used to them and start appreciating how any of the various styles can fit in with, and even accentuate it’s accompanying instrumentation.  And finally, as far as themes and lyrical content go, I write a lot of poetry and have a very big imagination, so I welcome the creative imagery. I love metaphors, and if you listen to metal, you’ll get to use your imagination in a variety of ways, but none so important as sorting out the vastness of metaphors used throughout a bands work.

Skeletonwitch is a great band in my opinion.  They get to the point fast and fiercely.  They’ve added a greater depth of melody to their songs and are ripe with metaphor.  If you like their earlier releases you’ll love Forever Abomination.  If you like metal in general, you should seriously give this album, and their other 3 albums and EP’s as well, some serious consideration.  Just a brief sampling on Itunes or any other site that lets you listen to music will, I feel, give you enough of a sample-set to get a good idea if this band would be something you’d be into.

Forever Abomination (32 minutes)

1.    This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)   4:10

2.    Reduced to the failure of Prayer                   2:52

3.    Of Ash and Torment                                        2:55

4.    Choke Upon Betrayal                                      2:36

5.    Erased and Forgotten                                     2:24

6.    The Infernal Resurrection                              2:52

7.    Rejoice in Misery                                              2:47

8.    Cleaver of Souls                                                3:49

9.    Shredding Sacred Flesh                                  2:34

    10. Sink Beneath Insanity                                     2:55

    11. My Skin of Deceit                                              2:12

Every track on the album is really good, but a few highlights:

This Horrifying Force

Offers a good dose of the melodic line throughout.  It offers a killer lead-intro/buildup, which not only sets the tone for this song, but for the entire album. It’s easily my favorite track

Erased and Forgotten

More in your face, but a terrific rift throughout the central part of the track, highlighted by some great drumming underneath.

The Infernal Resurrection

Wonderfully catchy track that just never stops keeping the groove going.  The vocals are perfectly in sync with the instrumentation throughout the entire track.  Perhaps the best Skeletonwitch song period, including all previous releases.

My Skin of Deceit

A great last track, as it incorporates much of what the rest of the album offers, yet a tad bit on the heavier side, just to remind everyone what this band is all about.

After you pick the album up let me know what you think, I’d love to see those in agreement with my own viewpoint, as well as those with varying opinions.

The Open Diary(2009) by Sleep Slid In

The Open Diary

        

While this record was released in 2009, I only became aware of the band recently.  Sleep Slid In is a two-piece, The Rose Phantom and Whitney Willow.  Their music sounds both familiar yet estranged, seemingly steeped in a Goth-like existence.

There are points within “The Open Diary” where a melody here or a moment there is eerily akin to Sisters of Mercy, yet while Sisters relies on much more of an industrialized alternative feel, Sleep Slid In uses more of a synthesized keyboarding to entrance their listeners. 

At other points I would find myself comparing them to Black Tape for a Blue Girl, yet here we have a case where SSI’s synth’s contrast Black tapes almost choral mood, comprised of softened sounds and whispers.

There are other bands that you’ll find yourself recalling as you listen to this record, this I’m sure of.  However, in each case there will be a major difference in sound that will pull SSI apart from whomever you compare them to.  SSI has uniqueness on their side, in that you don’t realize how diverse they actually are with a single listening alone.  With each subsequent play, you’ll begin to separate Whitney Willow’s alluring, almost uplifting vocals with the Omni-present ethereal feel to The Rose Phantom’s. 

The Open Diary is a record that harbors emotion and energy, regardless of their positive or negative vibe, and harnesses them into creations that the audience will either resonate with or find themselves and their personal situations contrasting against, in essence providing a point of reference.  

The sounds on the album are dual-haunting, you’ll find an ever present mortal haunt that becomes mesmerized by the sweet-like sounding melodies emanating from Whitney Willow.  The second style of haunting on The Open Diary is one of paranormal eloquence, where the vocals seem to arrive from some other dimension, from some alternate existence, that is made rational, through a melodic sort of timeline.

A friend stopped in while I was finishing up the listen prior to this review and made an interesting observation regarding the second half of The Open Diary’s 10 tracks.  He said they have an echoic nature to them that seemingly resonates from a darkened chasm, which is then filtered through a harmonious void.  While my friend may have more of a poetic way to his descriptions than most, I think his observation does a fairly accurate job in detailing that feeling you know but just can’t grasp.  In addition it offers an explanation to the subtle eeriness that flows in and between each song.  

I’d also like to make one more metaphor.  For the most part, during Sleep Slid In’s debut release, there exists an ambience I can only liken to those moments where you first awake in the morning.  I’m sure most already picture the image I’m presenting, however, for those who don’t, I’m referring to that initial waking, where your body is asleep yet your mind is slowly coming back from slumber.  You’re in a place where you are technically awake yet the sounds around you are not quite focused as of yet, they are more resembling of a haziness, where thought and dream are seemingly merged and wherewithal is more blurred than it is lucid.

As far as lyrical content and meaning behind the words, I feel that the band describes this better than I ever could, as they write the following commentary, taken from the discography page on their website, http://www.sleepslidin.com:

To love is to live.  To breathe is to die.  When you sleep you find the road that leads to life: love and fear.  Whether you choose to walk down the long stretch of road to find the answers that you seek is entirely up to you.  To hear the lush sounds of the seeking heart, to face the fear of a lonely life-all of which has been captured by two moody hearts.  Whether it be writings of demons, true love, the dark corner of life, lust, passion and perception-it’s not untrue, nor forced.  It is “The Open Diary”.  A personal quest for the truth behind life, death, beauty, darkness and light.

The Open Diary(2009)
  1. Demon Skin
  2. Sacrifice Season
  3. Feelings of Truth
  4. The Wind
  5. Searching
  6. Dead Love
  7. Second Sight
  8. The Key
  9. Inside My Heaven
10. The Open Diary

The Open Diary posses a similar yet different experience to it, what Sigmund Freud would call Uncanny.  It’s a unique sound that won’t be for everyone, but realistically what style of music really is?  I would recommend visiting their site, listen to each song and see for yourself, exactly what experiences Sleep Slid In’s Open Diary holds for you.