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Review Summary: I lost myself yet I’m clawing back Dance. Fight. Cry.
These are the three primary actions Youth Code and King Yosef’s collaboration trigger. A lean but dense release, the amount of poignant, punishing music they package in eight songs is commendable. Too much modern industrial is aimless, monotonous clutter or poor imitations of classic acts. Youth Code, fortified by King Yosef’s savage vocal contributions, break free from that mold with their brand of industrial that bites, stings, and stimulates. The ethos of industrial music is to confront and provoke, and that is achieved with this work.
Opener Claw/Crawl immediately demands your attention as it menacingly powers up and seethes. A beautiful balance is struck between structure and chaos with the song arranged around razor sharp verses but also incorporating a frenzied, glitchy self-sampling barrage. This track best displays the violent harmony Youth Code and King Yosef together meld.
With Burner, the duo lick their wounds and in the next breath inflict some. Belligerent, shrill synths surge out at you but the ethereal, melodic chorus provides reprieve. Head Underwater commands you to lay waste to your surroundings. It unleashes riotous guitar work containing an abrasive, punk tone. Out of nowhere you step through a trapdoor to face melting synths that cut in and out resulting in pleasurable whiplash.
Skeleton Key’s major strength is how each song develops and doesn’t just settle and plod forward in the same blueprint established from the beginning. They sustain your interest and don’t take it for granted. Each track employs unique synth textures and atmospheres that make them stand out while maintaining a cohesive sound throughout the album.
Looking Down shifts gears to a slightly calmer but equally cynical tone. It has the most immediately catchy, pleasing chorus achieved through anxious, seductive textures while Youth Code’s Sara Taylor gloomily ponders ”Will I ever get to heaven if I only look down?”. The World Stage takes from a more techno aesthetic but isn’t short in noise and dissonance. Mocking the facade of society, the chorus becomes more gratifying and effective with each pass. Jagged rhythms and compelling synths abound in A Mother’s Love. Each time it seems you have a grasp of the song it slips out of your hands.
Death Safe takes more time to ruminate in the pessimism coursing through the album. It is the most inhuman, artificial song on the album, by design. A concrete wall of bleak, buzzing synths make you feel trapped in a cyberhell world. The song ends with a breath of hope as Taylor defiantly sings “I’ve had enough this time, I’ve had enough of drowning”. The duo reclaim their humanity with closer Finally Docked. It is the most optimistic track with the instruments guiding you towards a possible light at the end of the tunnel instead of more punishment.
While it isn’t a genre-revolutionizing release, Skeleton Key is a vibrant, formidable album that few contemporary industrial artists can hold a candle to. I kept waiting for the moment Skeleton Key would stumble, but that moment never came.
| other reviews of this album |
kildare (2.5)
Excellent music. Not wild about King Yosef's vocals....
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Album Rating: 2.5
Glad someone gave a positive review on this, because I love Youth Code but gave this an average rating, and wrote a mediocre review for it that I've been itching to revise.
But I still think bringing in King Yosef was a huge mistake. They were set for a killer third release, and third albums tend to be good for bands, statistically. Witness Reign in Blood, Land of Rape and Honey, Ten Thousand Fists, and a bunch of others. They released a single before this album, "Puzzle," that is one of my favorite recent industrial tracks. And then they released this and -- surprise! -- King Josef just dominates the vocals. I've tried to listen for some kind of pattern between Taylor's and Josef's vocal parts, like, if they tried to make a duet, or call and response, or something, but it just sounds random.
Still, they need the support if they're going to release more music, and I'm all for that. So kuddos for balancing the review-books!
You might try to email them a link to your review through bandcamp. Maybe it will heighten their morale a little and give them a boost to release another one. But I personally hope it's Taylor solo this time. (Tell me if you email them your review, and I'll greatly modify/delete most of my comments here. I already said what I needed to in my own review, I was just opening dialogue here)>
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
King Yosef is definitely going to play a huge part in whether someone enjoys this or not but I come from a hardcore/metalcore background so his vocals were not bothersome at all to me, even though they are kind of monotone. I really want them to come out with something/anything new because all of their discography is great industrial.
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
"metalcore" I think is the word, and I totally agree with that. When I hear "hardcore" I think Minor Threat or Agnostic Front, and Josef's are closer to Hatebreed, but with a SLIGHTLY Cannibal-Corpsian, gurgly growl, and that doesn't sound to me like it came from hardcore. That came from death metal. Some death growls work for me, but I'm really picky. I guess I'm being an industrial-purist here.
Although come to think of it, Josef's IS kind of a growlier version of Agnostic Front. Maybe that's my problem, because I didn't much love any of their work after Victim in Pain, when he changed his vocal style
But it might be deeper than that: I wonder if I just didn't want Sarah to have to share space. It feels like a different band on here, like she had been put in her place by a "superior" vocalist who I don't feel is superior enough to deserve the front spot. Something like that maybe
But yeah, I agree, more music is most welcome
| | | Album Rating: 2.5
But your Metalcore comment helps explain A LOT about this album for me. Possibly she loves a lot of hardcore bands that lean metalcore, but she doesn't have the pipes to do what she wants so they brought King Josef in
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
It seems like they were both fans/friends of each other and wanted to make an EP together and this was the result. I'm just amazed this and Youth Code's most recent album don't get more attention. Except for Godflesh, NIN, Author & Punisher, The Soft Moon (rip), there isn't much good new industrial releases the last five years or so IMO. But maybe I'm not looking hard enough.
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Crazy coincidence. I just discovered the existence of this, go on sputnik and it's the first users review.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
huh been convinced Youth Code have dropped off after 2016. had no idea this was a thing
| | | Album Rating: 3.0
I saw Youth Code live and thought they were killer but they were opening for TBS so the crowd didn't really pop off for them. Will check
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
That is a pretty bizarre combination but I would dig it.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0 | Sound Off
Finally got around to this one and yeah it's pretty rad.
| | | Album Rating: 4.0
Crazy this has 2 reviews, but only 13 ratings.
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