Back in 2013 I reviewed Bones’ second album, the more than appropriately titled “Sons Of Sleaze” and proclaimed it “the rawest slice of punked up crusty death metal I‘ve heard this year”. Well it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to report that in the age of “progression” almost nothing has changed in the Bones camp. You’re not gonna put this record on and mistake it for Cynic or Enslaved or any other gutless wafty prog nonsense. Same line up, same crusty sound. If it ain’t broke then don’t fuck around with it. This is some ferocious stuff. Grindingly heavy in parts with a churning, in your face bass driven sound that reminds me a bit of Deviated Instinct. Opener “Blood, Diarrhea & Tears” makes you sit up, take notice and bang your head all at once with a savage black metal vibe and a crushing main riff. “Mass Graves” and the excellent “Carrion Crows” follow suit. I said above that almost nothing had changed…..but Bones have injected a lethal dose of groove into their sound. No they haven’t turned into the Red Hot Chili Peppers or some wanky Pantera clone….far from it but every track benefits from a noticeably more memorable song structure than on “Sons Of Sleaze”. The title track sounds like it could have been recorded by Amebix and wouldn’t be out of place on “Monolith”. “No One Matters” is the best Extreme Noise Terror song ENT never wrote and “Down” slows the tempo to a comparitvely sluggish chug.
Sometimes with this genre of music the album can develop into a pile of mush but not here. Every one of the eleven tracks has its own identity – mainly due to the technical prowess of this Chicago threesome.
If you liked “Sons Of Sleaze” then you’ll want to own this as it’s a marked improvement Bones are etching their place in the Chicago metal underground with a big rusty old chisel and you’re gonna want to keep an eye on them.
(7/10 Mark Eve)
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