Review Summary: Drums sound great, Vocals are layered and two-toned, a very nice contrast between guitar and bass tones.
Overall a solid Blackened thrash album from great Blackened thrash band Skeletonwitch
If you have ever heard a short clip of part of any Skeletonwitch song, you might think that it sounds generic and standard. But if you sit down, listen, and pay attention, you would see that standard can be outstanding. Before I start to review this album, I’ll tell you that I won’t be giving you a biography of the band.
Skeletonwitch’s second album, “Beyond the Permafrost,” is one of, if not the best example of Blackened thrash I know. Some influences are immediately present on the first track “Upon Wings of Black.” Distinct sounds I noticed were a lot of thrash influence, particularly the likes of Megadeth, Death Angel, Slayer, and I might even go as far to say Testament. (now I don’t consider myself a Black metal enthusiast and I don’t know a lot of Black metal bands) Some Black metal influences I can hear sound like Dissection for the most part, (especially Chance’s vocals) and a little bit of Emperor, (though by no means do I claim I know much about black metal). Skeletonwitch have quite a few unorthodox riffs akin to to wacky writing Dave Mustaine from Megadeth did back with the album “Peace Sells...But Who’s Buying?,” and the sheer energy of Testament’s, Death Angel’s and Slayer’s style of riffing. And I can hear a lot of Dave Mustaine and Marty Friedman inspired solos, the most notable one being the first track again. Another influence to mention is from the NWOBHM movement, mostly found in the band’s riffing an accenting of certain parts, like in the title track “Beyond the Permafrost.” (the NWOBHM style riffing can be found at about 1 minute into the title track.)
To get onto the review of the band’s actual music. The drumming is technical and entertaining but keeps itself contained. I feel the band’s (former) drummer on this album, Derrick Nau, has the best sounding kit I have ever heard out of any band I’ve ever listened to, barring the late Clive Burr’s sound on Iron Maiden’s “The Number of the Beast.”
Skeletonwitch’s bassist Evan Linger has some great chops on the bass. Although I feel Evan’s bass needs to be brought up a bit more in the mix, the bass on this album is fantastic, and the much lower bass tone he has compliments the higher pitched guitars very well and has a stark contrast with them.
The guitar work between Nate Garnette (lead) and Scott Hedrick (rhythm)
on this album is comparable to the way Dave Murray and Adrian Smith work together and layer riffs to create much more depth to the sound and give it life. On the track “Cast Into the Open Sea” there is a whole section of melodic guitar interluding that’s incredible. There is also a number of “call and response” moments between the guitars on the track “Sacrifice for the Slaughtergod. And if there’s a solo being played there’s still a riff being played underneath it, so headbanging is still possible. (I love rhythm guitar in thrash.)
With the other members and their instruments talked about, we have Chance Garnette, (former) vocalist for skeletonwitch. I absolutely love Chance his highs are amazing and his lows are even better, vis versa depending on the day. The vocals are even better because Chance uses highs and lows throughout the songs and layers tracks to get a more evil sounding effect out his voice, not dissimilar from how Ozzy Osbourne layers his vocal tracks to get his immediately recognizable and iconic sound. And even with some pretty campy lyrics on this album, Chance delivers them in such a menacing way that I can’t help but love them.
Check out one of these if you are unsure about this band:
Upon Wings of Black
Beyond the Permafrost
Cast Into the Open Sea
Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery
Album Pros:
+ Amazing drum sound
+Solid Blackened thrash
+ Well delivered and understandable vocals
+ A great contrast between instrument tones, they don’t all blend together or cancel each other out
Album cons:
- Finding a CD will be hard if you don’t purchase it online
- Lyrics are a bit campy at some points
- Production isn’t the best from a 2007 album
I give this album a solid 5/5
And I hope you give it a “Chance”
