Skeletonwitch - Forever Abomination review
| Band: | Skeletonwitch |
| Album: | Forever Abomination |
| Style: | Blackened thrash metal |
| Release date: | October 07, 2011 |
| A review by: | Doc G. |
01. This Horrifying Force (The Desire To Kill)
02. Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer
03. Of Ash And Torment
04. Choke Upon Betrayal
05. Erased And Forgotten
06. The Infernal Resurrection
07. Rejoice In Misery
08. Cleaver Of Souls
09. Shredding Sacred Flesh
10. Sink Beneath Insanity
11. My Skin Of Deceit
There's improvements, and then there's astronomical improvements. Think of it this way; Breathing The Fire was a damn solid album, that is, it was, until Forever Abomination decided to strut right up, undo it's belt, drop it's pants and pinch off a triple-coiler all over everything Skeletonwitch has done to date.
Now, the thing is with Breathing The Fire, the album was just too solid. Not necessarily in quality - but in sound. It was a one-track-mind type of album. The overall experience was blistering fun, but individual songs tended to lack identity. Forever Abomination is incredibly varied without being unnecessarily eclectic - there's a handful of different styles here, but the songs don't sound like they belong on separate albums. "Of Ash And Torment" is the sound of 80's speed metal being played Skeletonwitch style, while "Reduced To The Failure Of Prayer" and "Erased And Forgotten" are pretty much undiluted displays of death & black metal. Then of course, there's the staple sound of a handful of tracks that sound like they'd be right at home in Breathing The Fire. The album as whole is tied together by the feel of the riffs; this one just sounds flat-out evil.
One thing that was always commendable about Skeletonwitch was song length, it may seem unimportant, but listening to this album it seems incredibly pronounced. This band is obviously capable of writing some freaking awesome riffs, but instead they stick to the cream of the crop, pummel them out in under 3 minutes a piece, then move on. There's not a whole lot of room for boredom left.
As a whole, the album feels a little short, but an album with all the fat cut off is much better than an album with a bunch of filler for the sake of making it last longer. I'd rather be begging for more than begging it to stop.
Comments page 2 / 2
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306  |
Written by Mad Mike on 15.10.2011 at 17:09 Best comparison ever.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Butters49 Posts: 208  |
Beyond the Permafrost > Forever Abomination > Breathing the FIre Beyond the Permafrost is a fucking godsend of an album. This one is relatively close FUck i love this band
---- "Sataaaaaaaaan. Yeah yeah!" -King Diamond
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| Doc G. Full Grown Hoser Staff Posts: 9718  |
Written by Mad Mike on 15.10.2011 at 17:09 Good analogy. My point was that Skeletonwitch really seemed to be gauge properly at what sort of length their songs work well at. There's some bands that write awesome songs to begin with, then just don't know when to end it. Take Evile as a prime example, they've got some great riffs, but so many of their songs are just too long for their own good. Only write 5+ minute songs if the music is built properly for it is what I'm saying here.
---- "I got a lot of really good ideas, problem is, most of them suck." - George Carlin
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| Mattybu Posts: 2589  |
Picked this one up yesterday... Listening to the opener right now and liking it. This band is one hell of an interesting brew.
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466  |
Kay, guess I'll be the first to say I was mostly bored by this. :\ Some nice tracks, but this black/thrash brew can entertain me for about 15 minutes, tops.
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by [user id=28526] on 23.10.2011 at 22:50 That's like...the entire album though. I'm not sure how you don't feel it... Unless by feel you mean you don't dig it.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
Written by [user id=28526] on 24.10.2011 at 00:47 Ya that's pretty much what blackened thrash is.  Sometimes the black metal elements are more prevalent (like Hades Archer for instance), but the whole "blackened" thing usually just means the other genre takes a noticeable influence from black metal. Like Behemoth being blackened death. The black metal elements are minimal now, but they were far more obvious in the early 2000s.
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| JD Account deleted |
JD
Account deleted Written by Troy Killjoy on 24.10.2011 at 00:55 Maybe In a way, but this kind of "blackened speed thrash" is definitely not for me. I prefer something like Witchery, Legion Of The Damned, Absu, Assaulter etc.. so I'm disappointed with this album.
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6101  |
I see the phrase "blackened thrash" all the time. Let me whine a bit about it. A small rant from an old (in your eyes only, dear reader) guy who remembers the early (but not the earliest) days of thrash. Back in the day every thrash band that gained some recognition had a vocalist that could actually sing. Better or worse, almost every thrash vocalist actually sang. Take Anthrax, Metallica, Megadeth, Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Testament, Overkill, Death Angel just to mention the ones who are still around today, after so many years. They all had SINGERS. (A few notable exceptions among the most famous old thrash bands are Slayer, Dark Angel, Kreator - they didn't have singers, since most of the time their vocalists screamed.) Nowadays finding a relatively young thrash band that has a singer is quite hard. Just take a few names that are often mentioned on this site recently: Skeletonwitch, Vektor, Warbringer, Toxic Holocaust. Not a single singer among those. So, when we hear Skeletonwitch's vocalist, we have no choice but to call the music "blackened thrash", even though the only thing that resembles black metal is the shrieking vocalist. Don't get me wrong, it's ok, and I actually like the album a lot, but looking back, I'd prefer thrash bands with singers, not screamers - even though Slayer is my favourite band! I expect some angry responses listing new thrash bands with clean vocals that I failed to mention, or listing old thrash bands with harsh vocals that I forgot. No need to nitpick guys, because I was talking only about general impressions. EDIT: my biggest gripe with "new" thrash is that it's sooooo hard to find a band that tries something new. Most of the time they rehash the sound of the 80's, and, to my disgusted surprise, even get kudos for doing that!
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| Troy Killjoy perfunctionist Staff Posts: 21306 |
I wouldn't say the only black metal feature about Skeletonwitch are the vocals, although that's because thrash metal and black metal are so closely entwined. The soloing, shrieking, and fast pace are both parts of thrash and black metal (well, the soloing being more archetypal of melodic black metal) and - if I remember correctly - this album also makes use of blastbeats. Also, resurrecting the argument that shrieking/screaming/growling/grunting =/= singing is only going to result in feces being thrown. Remember Yasmine?
---- "Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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| Daniell _爱情_ Elite Posts: 6101 |
Yeah, but still singing is singing and growling is growling. These are different, no matter what 
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by Daniell on 28.10.2011 at 22:48 but growling is a sort of singing 
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
Written by Daniell on 28.10.2011 at 22:48 Same as Marcel, no matter what
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| monur Posts: 14 |
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| algirdongas Posts: 33 |
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| Murder Posts: 255  |
I really enjoy this album... is agressive, solid and captures the Skeletonwitch's escence... I don't think that this was a dissapointment... no way!!! 100% recommended 
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| Nexus Asshat Posts: 265  |
Honestly, I'm not too hot on this album and am disappointed. To be fair, it took me a while to warm up to Breathing the Fire, as I wasn't too fond of it the first time around. Maybe that'll be the case for this album, but the songs I've subjected myself to on this album did not hold my attention for too long. It was pretty bland for me, and the only thing that peaked my interest was the staple Skeletonwitch sound that permeated the riffs. Despite this, it was nothing exciting ... I was expecting something a bit more fresh. I'll prolly give it another go sometime soon, but as of now, I'm pretty indifferent of the release.
---- If you stand for nothing, you'll fall for everything
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| .Nemesis. Posts: 79  |
I really liked this album. It's fast, it's aggressive, it's Skeletonwitch.
---- You try to awaken me, the flesh dripping with blood My body is there, but my soul a perilous void Aethereal existence coming off in ambient waves I am nothing. I AM N1H1L.
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| Sonic MrSumo Posts: 449  |
Great review. I agree entirely with your comments on song and overall album length.
---- All the bridges in the world won't save you, if there's no other side to cross to. - Rock poetry from Silverchair.
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