Brutal death metal is just that, brutal. Many bands use this as a crutch for their music, but other bands, like Skinless, use it as a backbone to their sound. Their new album “Savagery” is just that, a brutal album that is more than a typical brutal death album. The title track, “Savagery” opens the album up, and does so with an ambient intro before launching into the first of many brutal riffs featured on this album. The writing is solid, and the production is rough and fits the music. My one criticism of the production is it drowns the solos a bit. “Siege Engine” is the next song, and is an early highlight on this album. Everything about this song is very solid, and the band uses a slower pace to make the songwriting as tight as can be.
Up next is “Skull Session” which opens with one of the album’s best riffs. The pace is picked up again on this track, and the solo is definitely worth mentioning. “Reversal of Fortune” is the first of two instrumental tracks on the album, and is a short break from the brutality of the rest of the album. This leads into “Exacting Revenge”, which is brutal as hell. The band wastes no time getting back into the thick of it with a fast paced, well written, skull crushing track. “Medieval” has a melodic opening guitar, and is one of, if not the, slowest paced track on the album. This song takes its time, and stays heavy while meandering with different riffs and slight pace variations. “Line of Dissent” picks up the pace again, and is another highlight of this album. The riffs and writing are top notch, and the solo is, like the rest of them, great.
Up next is “Cruel Blood of the Guillotine”, which has a softer guitar intro for the first minute, before launching into an all-out aural assault. This is a brutal song, and once that shows just how great this genre can be. “The Hordes” ends this album, and is the second short instrumental on this album. While not the ideal album closer, the guitar work is nice to end on. This is a very good album. There’s enough variation to keep in interesting, but enough consistency to feel familiar throughout. Besides the weird production of the solos, and a lot of the songs being what is expected of an album like this, there’s not much to say negatively about this album. Definitely a must listen.
Overall Score: 9.0/10
Review by Sam Hookom
