4 May 2016

Skinfather: "Succession / Possession"


Prodigious death metal, executed at the hands of Skinfather
Death metal never quite goes out of fashion. Death metal is always the new black, and when you thought every aspect of death metal had been put completely through its paces, a new band comes along and resuscitates it. The American death metal band Skinfather may not be the most unique of bands, but they excel at what they do, to the point that they might as well have been one of the heavy weights from back in the day.

"...the Succession / Possession EP vigorously shakes all the arthritic stiffness from death metal."

Clocking in at around twelve minutes the band's second EP, 2013's Succession / Possession, is a short three track affair. The two original compositions and the Unleashed cover track that closes the EP reveal their influences to be, among others, the Swedish death metal scene, topped off with all the chainsawing guitar and d-beats you could ever want. As usual with these sorts of short-lived proceedings, it feels a bit underachieving - Especially when the music is this good and well-written. Falling under the short-but-great category, the Succession / Possession EP vigorously shakes all the arthritic stiffness from death metal.

Though slow at times, Skinfather aren't too fancy to speed things up as well. With pace and dynamics their tracks follow usual death metal songwriting tradition while also breathing heavily under the stress of pursuing other ventures. They add to their music a sense of power and heaviness that few bands accomplish, leaving Succession / Possession a worthy offering at the altars of madness.

Execute Them All, originally by Unleashed, goes great with the two original compositions by Skinfather as they are all propelled by the same heavy groove and power. The cover itself is very adequately performed and doesn't as such, as is often the case with cover tracks on short EPs, detract to much attention from the band's own arrangements. As a mighty death metal force, Skinfather excels - Both in songwriting and performance.

8/10


Released in 2013 by Life and Death Records

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