Sunday 26 December 2010

#005 Skeletonwitch - Breathing the Fire

Modern Thrash has gone in a mixed veriety of directions, each of them sounding quite unlike old-style Thrash, or indeed each other.

Skeletonwitch are Black-metal Influenced thrash, typified by short songs, shrieked (and growled) Vocals, and technically adept playing styles. The black metal influence in their most recent album, "Breathing the Fire" is plain to see, in the vocal styles, and occurences of sinister tremolo picking. One thing is for certain, Skeletonwitch are a lot more than simply a modern thrash band.


"Breathing the Fire" seems to be Skeletonwitch's best album yet, with all the songs being fast paced, especially belters such as "Crushed beyond Dust" and "Longing for domination". However, the occasional accoustic moment is unexpectedly but not unwelcomely thrown in, for example at the end of "...And into the flame"

This album is very solid, and is without comprimise in good production, excellent songs, and artwork, which frankly, is worth the price of the album alone.


One of the few downsides I see to the album is the Length of the songs. Almost all of them are only 2-3 minutes in length, and often feel as if they are over before they have begun. This somewhat harms the catchiness, memorability and enjoyability of the songs, however, the songs are of sufficient quality to overcome this obstacle.

This album is atleast 8/10.