Death is June -Shed the Skin : "the Forbidden Arts"

Brutality is relative. I said I was not going to devote much time to the so called brutal side of death metal and look for bands doing something different. This is kind of a compromise.  These guys are good at what they do, due in part to the fact this band is comprised of guys from the likes of Incantation and Ringworm, these guys know what they are doing . This is evident on their 3rd album. Supposedly "satantic" death metal. Nothing feels darker or more ritualistic like the short lived title of occult death metal from 10 years ago. Very guttural and aggressive, brining to mind both Cannibal Corpse and Deicide. The vocals are at almost a gurgle. They still care about the songs, though what plagues them is their tendency to return to the same carcass to pillage. There are slower more death doom like passages in many of the songs. I am fine with this as long as they approach each differently. Yes the rule here is "cool riffs alone does not a good song make". They do have some cool riffs that are very convincing.

The second song was no the most memorable. Upon returning to it the vocals sound slightly crisper. Yes brutality does not mean to throw all aspirations of being catchy out the window. The guitars are clearly this album's strong suit. There is a more melodic heading toward the song's final moments. There is a more driven chug that is sure to induce neck snapping banging on "Trow of Trajedy". It is also the first song that I hear the keyboards come out of the dense mix. This one is put together really well and even the vocal have a purpose. "Master of  Thralls" finds the pace picking up. Four songs into a death metal album before they go racing off into a furious chug is an accomplishment. "Necormantic Wellspring" kinda falls into your run of the mill death metal. "Glorified in Bloodsmoke" makes me wonder once more what is Satanic about this ? Seems about as Satanic as a horror movie on Netflix.

At this point in the album the red crayon the songs are colored with begins to get boring so slowing things down into more of a death doom pace is a good idea along with the more fine tuned riffs that begin to kick in again. There is a creeping Slayer groove to "Black Bile of Ceres". The verse has a big triumphant sound and it is one of the album's best songs. When they slow down and give nuance to the darkness they are working to the best ability on "Veins of Perdition" . This is not a hard and fast rule as "Black Bile of Ceres' works off more of a groove. I will round this down to a 7.5. Comes out June 26th. If you are waiting for me to wrap my thoughts up I think I have made them pretty clear.