Skinless
Progression Towards Evil


5.0
classic

Review

by combustion07 USER (74 Reviews)
January 18th, 2021 | 25 replies


Release Date: 1998 | Tracklist

Review Summary: "I can walk, I can talk, I can even shit my pants! Can you shit your pants?!?"

Skinless is a brutal death metal band hailing from New York. The band formed in 1992 and dropped a few demos shortly after but didn't manage to complete a full length until the tail end of the 90's. The New York scene was known for churning out it's fair share of brutal bands and Skinless is no exception. While Skinless is a fairly well known band in the genre this album seems to be frequently overlooked when discussion of the high points of the genre come up. Progression Towards Evil is 33 minutes of total knuckledragging death metal and although it's quite no frills I wouldn't want it any other way!

"Grab your girl, grab your pole, let's take a trip to the ol'bunghole! ROLL EM!". The first of many humorous samples opens the album as a precursor to one of my personal favorite tracks in the genre "Confines of Human Flesh". The opener gives a pretty accurate idea of what you're in for with the remainder of Progression Towards Evil. Chock full of no nonsense riffing coupled with some absolutely pounding grooves interrupted by some jagged sounding notes to poke at your earholes for good measure. They even sneak in a nice little bass solo before dropping a killer mosh inducing groove down upon you in masterful fashion.

Track two "Extermination of my Filthy Species" showcases the fact that Skinless are the king's of finding a nasty, face scrunching groove and milking for all it is worth. The brutal main riff of this track makes me want to punch myself in the face until I'm rendered unconscious. The album is full of moments like this. Every time I jam this I wake up hours later with many new cuts and bruises but I can't seem to stop even when taking into consideration the health hazards listening comes with.

Vocals range from nasty gutturals to disgusting, wretched highs. The guttural approach makes up most of the vocals throughout the album. The drumming will keep your head moving indefinitely and does an amazing job keeping the momentum going strong for the entire runtime. The guitar tone is quite crushing and damn near every riff is extremely memorable. The bass sits pretty high in the mix giving the bottom end of the album an amazing depth that is beyond satisfying. Check out "Bobbing for Heads" to hear bass being utilized in a way that I can only describe as perfect.

Overall Progression Towards Evil contains just about everything you could possibly want from an album within the genre. Skinless didn't reinvent the wheel with this one but they do in fact do everything in their power to crush you to the fullest extent with the wheels that had already been created by the forefathers of the genre. This album was one of my earliest experiences jamming some good ol' brutal death metal and to this very day it still remains my favorite amoungst the heap of nastiness I've heard. So sit back, relax, grab your sandwich bag of tampon lollipops and suckle on them as you indulge in the sickening earcandy that Skinless was nice enough to record for enjoyment!



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user ratings (78)
3.7
great

Comments:Add a Comment 
combustion07
January 18th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Finally got around to reviewing one of my personal favorites! If you enjoy brutal death metal in any form or fashion and haven't heard this I highly recommend you jam it immediately. Arguably one of the most consistent bands in metal period imo and a ridiculously fun album start to finish. Unlike my other recent reviews this one was actually written today rather than just a repost from my old site. Expect many more new reviews coming soon! Got a list of a handful of albums that desperately need reviews that I'm going to try to work my way through pretty quickly!

Supercoolguy64
January 18th 2021


11787 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

this rules

combustion07
January 18th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Rules big time! Hopefully there's more fans of it present here so one day this can have the 50+ page thread it deserves!

parksungjoon
January 18th 2021


47231 Comments


sounds like entirely not my thing

...

sounds like entirely oltna's thing

TheNotrap
Staff Reviewer
January 18th 2021


18936 Comments


I'm glad this finally got a review, nasty jam. Pos'd.

parksungjoon
January 18th 2021


47231 Comments


ye my man's already working on what he said he'd do, what a beast

combustion07
January 18th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Appreciate the props good sirs! Gonna try to keep it beast mode for 2021. Even though this one isn't up your alley I'm pretty sure you'll dig the next one parks

blou52
January 18th 2021


340 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Damn, and I had a review of this written too. Nice job though, this album has some of the best samples and tone in the genre and I'm super glad to see it reviewed.

combustion07
January 19th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Damn man my bad. I've had that happen to me a few times over the years on here. Agreed on the samples and the tone. Love that the band doesn't take themselves too seriously. Tampon Lollipops sample is pure gold lol. Wish I would have gotten to see them on their farewell show years ago where they only played this and Foreshadowing

blou52
January 20th 2021


340 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

It's all good, I'm just happy it's got a review. That cover totally threw me off when I first heard all those samples. Nasty song titles and album cover and then you get totally fun samples and songs. Definitely a memorable album

combustion07
January 20th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah first listen I was kind of surprised they didn't take themselves too seriously considering the dangling bodies lol. That's a big part of what makes this one stand apart from the pack for me. Really this era was the peak of brutal death imo with Vile's debut, Regurgitation's first album (the demo is nasty too), Beheaded's first two and Souldead, Deeds, Fetus, Internal Bleeding, Mortal Decay and Disavowed. Mid 90's to the early 2000's was a goldmine for this stuff. Also dig some of the one man bands that were happening towards the tail end too. If the early Mortal Decay stuff doesn't have any reviews that'll probably be the next brutal death I tackle.

blou52
January 20th 2021


340 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Well, I actually started a review of Mortal Decay's Sickening Erotic Fanaticism back when I was still on a writing streak. I 100% agree that Regurgitation's album is one of the greatest in the whole brutal death genre. Even though I still say Cryptopsy and Suffocation hold the top two albums for the genre, alot of the albums from the era you mentioned are really good. It's like they finally decided to follow the ideas that were set before them

combustion07
January 21st 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

I can't argue with Cryptopsy and Suffocation. I've always seperated them from the brutal death conversation because of the technicality but that's really just so I can name a different album other than None So Vile as my favorite. I just consider it my favorite death metal overall neck and neck with Mental Funeral. I'll leave that Mortal Decay album alone since you write better reviews than I do. Think I may do Human Artifacts, been jamming it a ton lately

random
January 25th 2021


3148 Comments


Skinless is awesome. Also, for some reason they thank Lynyrd Skynyrd in the liner notes. So does Lamb of God. I guess Skynyrd is an influential band on metal that I didn't realize.

combustion07
January 25th 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Nice! I never noticed the Skynyrd in the thanks section. Always interesting to see some interesting ones in there. Good way to find new bands too

random
January 28th 2021


3148 Comments


That's one of the reasons I still buy CD's.

Supercoolguy64
February 24th 2021


11787 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

CDs are the GOAT format

combustion07
March 2nd 2021


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Great format indeed! This is still really good in case anyone was curious

Supercoolguy64
November 29th 2021


11787 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Cuntaminated is the ultimate girl power anthem

combustion07
February 6th 2022


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

This shit still rips harder than ever guys!



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