Double Play: Skeletonwitch and Gorgoroth

SKELETONWITCH
BREATHING THE FIRE
PROSTHETIC RECORDS

Skeletonwitch aren’t so much a band as they are a traveling party. Granted this party consists of Demons and creatures and things that go bump in the night but it’s still a good time. Skeletonwitch aren’t a band that’s out to push the parameters of metal or try and reinvent the wheel but they do manage to combine various styles into one streamlined ideal that is uniquely them.

Still, this is a party so lets treat it like one, let’s break down the new Skeletonwitch album "Breathing The Fire” as though it was a hellspawn free-for-all.

When planning the proper party you must start with a place to throw it. Skeletonwitch’s ideal place for this party would be somewhere between the break neck speed of death metal and the riff heavy dimension of thrash. The songs on Breathing The Fire bleed in and out of these two styles with great ease. It’s not that Skeletonwitch changes their sound from song to song it’s more that they splice together elements from these genres in order to brew up their own sound.

From there we need to have food in order to feed these demons who are often hungry after a good possession or haunting. Providing the necessary sustenance for their satanic party Skeletonwitch have decided to push as much power on the menu as they possibly can. Breathing The Fire doesn’t just start it blows out of the doors and then continues it’s breakneck pace for all eleven tracks.

What Skeletonwitch lack in subtly they make up for in smash mouth heavy metal know how. This album is filled with solos, double bass drums and wicked cool guitar harmonies that layer on top of each other building thicker and harsher walls of sound. The combination of catchy groove riffs and straight power allows the record to satisfy the simple head banger and the purist death metal fanatic.

Artist's rendering of a "Skeletonwitch".

So now we have a place for the party, food and obviously music (you get it, the whole Skeletonwitch is a band thing) all we need now are some prime people to raise this hellfire and brimstone jamboree to a respectable level. Supplementing songs for people it’s time to pick the ones that really kick ass. Take the old school thrash sounding jam “Where The Light Has Failed”. This tune is straight old school trash, the kind that would regenerate a whole field of undead old school headbangers and lead them to the Promised Land.

The death metal tinged “Blinding Black Rage” is the guy who shows up at the party and starts fights. This is an unforgiving death metal riff that manages to add some cool touches with structure and dynamics. “Repulsive Salvation” is the guy who gets the chicks because this tune is all harmonic singing guitars. Dark and heavy and yet totally free to allow the guitars to dance around it, this is one of the more interesting songs in the batch. All the tunes on Breathing The Fire are good but these are the standouts.

If there were one party downer here it would be the vocals. I’m just not a bark-bark-evil-cackle type of guy; it’s too easy with this kind of music. Skeletonwitch are great at building songs that at least try to defy convention so why let the vocals be this lazy? Outside of that Breathing The Fire is a solid album from a band that knows how to throw a party in Hell.