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Skinlab: The Scars Between Us Groove Metal, Mallcore/Nu-Metal, Sludge Rock/Metal Stand And Deliver Records September 15th, 2009
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Review
Skinlab is a band that has gone through some changes that many fans of metal disagree with. Originally a Groove Metal band, the band has settled down into the the style of music dubbed Mallcore. While The Scars Between Us still retains some of the band's Groove Metal aspects, and at times has some rather impressive elements to it. But, aside those moments, this album really just isn't good. It's so difficult to grasp the change in music from the start of the career. While Skinlab really wasn't anything all that original, some of their material was still really good. This release, however, is awful. "Face Of Aggression" is so insanely bad it's unbelievable. As you progress through the song you wait for something to happen, as if this were a failed introduction for a band's live set happening right before your eyes. It's cuts out, not fades, not transitions, just blatently cuts out into the next trtack, "Amphetamine Gods", which is actually a decent Mallcore track. After that, this release offers nothing really original, as well as a lot of songs that just sound hollow, as if something more could have been done with them as far as the guitars and production go. And it's so damned confusing too! The band can't figure out if they want to be Mallcore, Groove Metal, or Sludge Metal or Rock! While the album does have some good straight forward Mallcore tracks, you have cuts like "Scream At The World" that fuses Sludge guitar riffs into the sound and makes it just as big a clusterfuck as "Face Of Aggression", and then "Karma Burns" sounds like something that Zakk Wylde should be suing over, everything on it sounds like a Black Label Society track aside the shouting for the chorus. And the sad part is this song just drones on for nearly seven minutes like that with a sudden change up in the music around 3:25, but even that can't save the song at all since now it just sounds like the band cut out into another song half way through recording, and that song is just a giant failed breakdown. The only real stand out moments of this release are the tracks "Bloodclot" for it being a pretty fast paced song and, no, not for being under two minutes, as well as "Paper Trails". That doesn't mean "Paper Trails" is good though, it's decent until you get about half way through, then it's just repetative Sludge Rock that is just extremely drawn out. Aside "Bloodclot", the only other remotely interesting tracks are "Amphetamine Gods", "Wolvesblood" and "In For The Kill", with only the first one in this list actually being good and worth a listen. The production on the release really isn't that great either, which definitely does hurt this release due to the aforementioned hollow sound presented. The Scars Between Us is clearly a release from a band that can't make up it's mind, and proof that expierimentation with multiple styles on various songs is a very bad thing. It would be wise to avoid this Experimental Mallcore/Nu-Metal Groove tinged Sludge Rock album at all costs.
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