The doom/death hybrid seems to be very much ‘in’ at the moment and with most bands opting for the yawn inducing formula of death metal growls over the top of slow, clinical, over produced sounding instrumentals, Skeletal Spectre are the shining light amongst the mediocre hordes.
This is the third full length the band have produced since starting out in 2008 – three albums in 5 years, an impressive feat for anyone, but even more so when you consider the fact that two thirds of this band are based in Sweden and the vocalist Vanessa Nocera lives in the USA.
What makes this album shine is the fact that the doom element of the music takes a back seat; the guitars are unashamedly aggressive sounding with the classical Swedish element of sounding like a buzzsaw – ‘Voodoo Dawn’ is a much more direct assault on the senses with the occasional melodic lead sprinkled throughout.
There are some huge, meaty sounding passages on tracks such as ‘Altar of Damballah’ and therein lies the slower, groove laden riffs that prevent this record from becoming another generic ‘Thrash Till Death’ parody. Nocera’s vocals are simply outstanding and she shifts from high pitched shrieks to demonic throaty growls with such grace and ease that it almost seems unnatural.
The latter half of the tracks begin to bleed into each other after a few listens and fail to make as much of an impact as the first five; the song structures seem a little lazy and are too similar to each other. Further showing off her choral versatility, Vanessa opts for some old school heavy metal vocals on closing track ‘The Flip-Side of Satan’ and whilst her dynamic voice is commendable its results are simply cringe worthy. It’s something akin to Doro trying to sing over the top of a Carcass song. Pretend this track does not exist and the rest of this release is more than acceptable.
(6/10 Angela Davey)
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