Skeletal Remains

DEVOURING MORTALITY CENTURY MEDIA

DEATH METAL REVIVALISTS FINALLY OUTGROW THEIR INFLUENCES

Before you accuse these Californians of jumping on the early-90s Floridian revival, backpedal to 2009 when their guitarist and vocalist joined Fueled By Fire – the former old-school thrashers who gradually upgraded their brutality to deathier levels. In a way, Chris Monroy may be achieving here what he attempted with the two albums he recorded with FBF. After two youthful yet slightly unfocused platters in 2012 and 2015, Skeletal Remains’ third full-length raises the bar, production and performancewise. Chris could still be mistaken for Pestilence-era Martin van Drunen and the Dan Seagrave artwork only emphasises their debt to death metal’s early days. But boosted by Dan Swanö’s bombastic mix and a more technical yet also more personal sound, the result exceeds the expected classic-Florida-viaCalifornia-brutality, still rooted in the past but with a bright future ahead.

FOR FANS OF: PESTILENCE, DEATH, EARLY GORGUTS OLIVIER BADIN