Skeletonwitch: Serpents Unleashed

One of the most consistent thrash metal bands around have once again flexed proven themselves worthy with their latest release Serpents Unleashed. These blackened-thrash titans have released another album amazingly brutal and blindly fast record that grabs you by the balls from the moment its starts and doesn’t let go until the very end.

What I love most about Skeletonwitch is their versatility. You have Nate Garnette and Scott Hedrick on guitar and have the ability to shred their own arms off, but also play with a lot of subtlety and can generate a gloomy atmosphere with their playing. You have Chance Garnette who kills it on every record both lyrically and vocally and the rhythm section for this band is also incredibly tight and consistent through and through with plenty of groove and certainly no shortage of blast-beats to keep the listeners entertained as they gallop across the plains of hell and back.

One thing I also really appreciate about this band is their desire to change production on every record. Instead of sticking with one solid producer and riding that wave until it’s time to change, they are constantly adapting to new producers as the times change and their music can sometimes be a reflection of that. The production has obviously been extreme and intense on every record and Serpents Unleashed may very well be their most extreme record to date. I think that is mainly because they worked with Kurt Ballou on this record and he is famous for working with Converge, one of the most intense hardcore acts you’ll ever find.

Filled to the brim with amazing songs that are both short, but jam-packed, every thrash metal fan will absolutely love this record.

Luke Helker

Winds of Plague: Resistance

California’s premier symphonic deathcore outfit, Winds of Plague have recently released their fourth full-length album entitled Resistance. However, I find that the symphonic element of their music has been slowly draining ever since the beginning and the deathcore aspect of their music has gotten less brutal also.  It’s still as bone-crushingly heavy as it’s always been, but where there used to be intricate harmonic guitar licks, one only finds unison guitars chugging away to a singer who thinks he’s got more swagger than Emmure. Don’t get me wrong, I really like Winds of Plague for what they are nowadays, but I still miss the band that I heard on Decimate the Weak all those years ago.

For me, the past two releases from this band have been a departure from the epic, symphonic sound that characterized the first two albums from this band. I gave it the benefit of the doubt with Against the World and there were some tracks on there that really killed it (“Drop the Match”, “Refined in the Fire” and “One for the Butcher” come to mind easily), but there were other songs on that album that really sucked (“California” mainly), that really put a sour taste in my mouth for this band. This album seems to have a little bit of both, or a least that’s probably what the band thinks of this album. I think “Say Hello to the Undertaker” and “Good Ol’ Fashion Bloodbath” are along the same vein as what I really liked about the first two albums, but the really popular tracks on this are obviously the ones that don’t like “Left for Dead” and Sewer Mouth.”  They’re good songs for what they are, but not as Winds of Plague songs in my opinion.

Production-wise its another huge album, but not enough to save it. I don’t think there are really a lot of symphonic elements on this record to balance out or even break even. There’s just too many breakdowns in my opinion with too much chugging on the guitars and the role of the keys has been greatly diminished; too much for my taste.

I know I’m really slating this record and I know it’s quite a hipster thing to say, but their older material was far superior to this half-assed display of heavy guitars and guttural vocals. It doesn’t keep me interested and doesn’t leave me wanting more. It doesn’t even look like they tried on the album cover either. Where’s that intimidating samurai all decorated in armor and blood? There’s no warrior-like attitude to a big “W.” Save it for your merch.

Like I said before, I think it’s good for what it is, but considering how good I know this band can be, I must say I’m slightly disappointed.

Luke Helker