Shed The Skin - Harrowing Faith
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Published June 7 2016
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*=Staff's pick
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Plasmic Flames
Daimonic Adytum
Harrowing Faith*
Putrid And Pious
Unbound Revenant
Warband Under The Baphomet
CSUM
Alpha And Omega
Cambion*
Inhuman Accretion
Innermost Sanctuary
Execration Divine |
Genre |
Death Metal |
Ash Thomas
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Vocals
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Tracks |
12 |
Ash Thomas
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Guitar
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Running time |
39 Min. |
Matt Sorg
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Guitar
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Label |
Hells
Headbangers Records |
Ed Stephens
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Bass
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Release |
June 24, 2016 |
Kyle Severn
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Drums
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Country |
USA |
Brian Boston
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Keyboard
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Producer |
Dan Swanö |
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Similar artists |
Death, Immolation,
Asphyx |
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Another month, another old school death metal band. This
time it is the debut full-length of Ohio's Shed the Skin up for dissection.
So, which particular old school is up for worship this time one might
ask? Actually, it is pretty much all of them. 'Harrowing Faith' combines
influences from pretty nearly every viable scene exploring what death
metal could become during the early 90's. You have your blastbeats,
your mid-tempo and your doomy passages. You have thrashy riffs meeting
the more technical Immolation ditto. Breakneck aggression meets Autopsy-styled
horror flick hocks and so on.
With all those influences 'Harrowing Faith' is bound to
be an incoherent mish mash of styles and influences. Truth be told though,
this album is surprisingly focused. All the ingredients mix well and
this really has potential to become one rancid filthy stew of old rotten
death. However, that is not exactly the case. Sure, all songs contains
catchy and enjoyable riffs and hooks. The drumming is frantic and has
that tiny bit of sloppiness that brings the late 80's to mind.
Yet, there is something missing. Despite enjoying virtually
every song for the first minute or so I find myself losing focus the
longer the songs progress. Despite the riffs, hooks and lines being
enjoyable by themselves they just will not come together properly as
actual songs. Partly because that extra touch in the structure and writing
of the songs that makes death metal songs actual songs instead of just
a bunch of stacked riffs is missing. Partly because this really feels
like a modern death metal album drawing inspiration from 25 years ago
rather than a lost gem from that particular age. The rancid eerie feeling
of rotten carcasses that got the youth of the 90's hooked is simply
nowhere to be found on this album.
The members of Shed the Skin are all experienced in the
game and can add renowned acts such as Incantation, Sinister and Acheron
to their collective CV. With that kind of know how I would have expected
more than this. 'Harrowing Faith' is not a bad album, but not a good
one either. It is simply old school death metal, albeit with a whole
bunch of well stitched references, sadly lacking the key finishing touch
to become something more than simply old school death metal.
Performance
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Originality
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Production
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Vocals
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Songwriting
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Summary
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