In the realm of reliable old school death metal, Skeletal Remains looms large. Over their decade-plus existence, they’ve provided quality, high-energy brutality with strong similarities to classic Morbid Angel and pre-prog/pre-AI fetish Pestilence. Albums like Condemned to Misery and The Entombment of Chaos brought the bat and the boots to the beatdown and gave fans everything they could want. They’re masters of the basic death metal experience and don’t dabble too much with their sound from album to album. If it ain’t broke, don’t kick it, and fifth album Fragments of the Ageless picks up more or less where The Entombment of Chaos left off, but with a drift back to the slightly more “proggy” approach heard on Devouring Mortality. Don’t let the use of the term “proggy” make you turn up your nose at this rancid slab of wormy goat guts. This shit is still going to jam a foot up your ass. It’ll just do it with a modicum of class and refinement. You like class, right?
That said, you’ll be appalled by the limited social graces of opener “Relentless Appetite,” which comes at you like a raging bull elephant, thrashing, bashing, and talking with a mouth full of cheap beer and bloody flesh. It’s the unholy offspring of a lusty night in a scuzzy motel with Deicide and Morbid Angel and you’ll feel abused and defiled by the frenzied assault. The riffs are cutting, and the grooves are weighty and oppressive. These brutish moments are offset but almost neo-classical guitar solos that will surely impress, and the shift from self-aggrandizing solo back to monster grooves at 3:27 is expertly done. Similar low-IQ truncheoning awaits the hardy as Fragments rolls along like an overly armored war wagon. “To Conquer the Devout” is a beast-feasting blast factory running at vintage Morbid Angel intensity with some classic metal inspiration in the solos that could almost fit on an early 80s Dokken album. Yes, really.
“Forever in Sufference” reminds me so much (too much?) of “Rapture” by… you guessed it, Morbid Angel, but that’s okay, because good influences make for good death. The riffs are like spinning razor blades and the vocals will sear your eyebrows as the drumming shakes your bowels loose. “Verminous Embodiment” is a more thuggish work, with vicious, hammering grooves and a crossover sensibility to the savagery. “Unmerciful” is the album’s most interesting cut, taking 7 minutes to wind through a blasting and at times plodding journey through extremes. The guitar work throughout is stunning and adventurous and the whole thing has a bigger-than-Jesus epic feel to it without losing the heaviness and ugliness. As cool as it is, it could be a bit shorter. The follow-up closer is a 5-plus minute instrumental. It’s impressive, but paired with a preceding epic cut, it derails the album’s blistering momentum. Not every song bites as hard as the top dogs either. “Cybernetic Harvest” is fun but average and “Void of Despair” is good but a tad generic. I can’t fault the production courtesy of Dan “the fucking MAN” Swanö, however. It’s pummeling and unyielding with abrasive guitars and percussion that leaves marks. At a reasonable 45 minutes, it doesn’t feel too long-winded, though the back end can drag.
Mike De La O and Christian Monroy are an imposing guitar tandem capable of grand acts of string warfare. They can tailor riffs that slash and crush and then awe you with fluid, sweeping solos that soar like an eagle over the mystical mountains. They’re seemingly big disciples of the Azagthoth school and his playing lives bigly in their riffcraft. I prefer it when they stick to oppressing the filthy masses rather the the fancier bits, but that’s because I’m a dirty ape. Monroy is an effective death vocalist, one-note but a good note, filling the songs with phlegmy might and viscous roarings. Pierce Williams outdoes himself on the kit, doing his best to plant you in the muck as human fertilizer. The production makes his pummeling extra punishing to the point where it sometimes feels abusive.
While not the kind of death metal platter that will blow your brains out, Fragments of the Ageless is entirely enjoyable and sure to satisfy the hunger for heaviness. This is the first Skeletal Remains platter that didn’t knock my school books in the dirt and give me a wedgie, but I’ll get decent mileage from it nonetheless. You likely will too, so roll them bones!
Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 128 kbps mp3
Label: Century Media
Websites: facebook.com/skeletalremainsdeathmetal
Releases Worldwide: March 8th, 2024
