Two doses of darkness from California. AMEBIX meets CHRISTIAN DEATH, with high howling vocals and a great metallic plodding pace to “Extinction of Bodies” that stays firmly planted on the weirdo/punk side of the spectrum. It just feels dark and dangerous. Sketchy. Could listen on repeat for an hour and not get bored….just did, in fact.
Just missing Halloween, NEW SKELETAL FACES play gothic post-punk crust, with dissonant sub-aquatic bass lines and discordant contemporary blackened metal riffing. Vocals are grim, sometimes screeching and other times howling, like SHADOW PROJECT meets ZERO HOUR. Songs sound like ROSETTA STONE channeling SATYRICON. Themes are ghoulish cemetery strolling metaphors about the dying planet and a perverse overestimated society. This three-piece make dire cacophonies calling to (or rather, from) the grave. The last songs on each side are my favorite, with IRON MAIDEN, EMPEROR, DEVIATED INSTINCT and CHRISTIAN DEATH flavors peppering them. Recommended for fiends of the dark crafts and infernal tones.
