Skelethal are back with a slew of old-school Swedeath tracks after just releasing their critically-acclaimed Deathmanicvs Revelation LP earlier this year. They clearly are going for the jugular in Swedeath revival history, as their new LP, Interstellar Knowledge of the Purple Entity, hits a home run with the bases loaded with songs that sound like fireball zinging ragers! We’ve seen a number of quality Swedeath releases this year, amongst them Deathmanicvs Revelation, which should be in my year end top twenty list for sure.
Not about to rest on their laurels, the band start things off on Interstellar Knowledge of the Purple Entity with an outer space-sounding intro that quickly makes way for the gargantuan buzzsaw riff, ripping through aliens and predators alike with a fury those lucky enough to see in Swedeath circa 1991 can remember with the same jaw-dropping awe. Headbangers, to the moshpits! I repeat. Headbangers to the moshpits! To say that Skelethal do Swedeath well could be the understatement to end all understatements. When the progenitors got it right the first time, we all thought it was nearly impossible for bands this day and age to reproduce such sublime results. Skelethal are a promising band that shatters those expectations. They put these insanely catchy riffs and elements together like its nobody’s business. Like a mad scientist at the scene of a butchery, Skelethal stitch together popular elements of Swedeath limb from dismembered limb. The result is a monster – a corpse put together and brought to life the way Frankenstein’s monster was with the use of lightning, roaring into the night with thunder in its strings, the pick like a butcher’s knife. Skelethal leave no one alive after out-takes.
While Deathmanicvs Revelation showed a band taking time to execute well-worn ideas carefully, the songs on Interstellar Knowledge of the Purple Entity reveal that Skelethal can do so while having a blast just playing. They give Swedeath their own unique personality. It proves that Swedeath is alive and kicking, even after so many bands just seem to think that the same inane riffs played with the Boss HM-2 pedal justifies the existence of a recording. No, Swedeath wasn’t meant to die a slow, meaningless death, years after bands first opened the floodgates. The levee has been broken. There are too many bands play boring Swedeath revivalist shit without tenacity, passion, and love for the music. Skelethal spearhead a small devout group of bands that follow Swedeath to whatever inevitable end awaits the iconic style. All it takes is hitting a play button on your screen to sample what is to be the start of things to come. Swedeath, circa 2014, is alive and rotting, blazing a trail where the progenitors have come undone, yielding to experimentation, mutation, and outright abandonment. Skelethal succeed where many fail in the glorification of Swedeath as a style-bringing bucketloads of fun to the jam. Standout tracks include the title track, as well as Slaughtered From Beyond. Fans of circa 1991 Swedeath will be curious to hear Skelethal’s take on Carnage’s Torn Apart, done in fitting tribute to the pre-Dismember, Entombed outfit. Listen at the peril of developing an addiction to this promising band!
Nov. 28th, 2014
