Customer Reviews

Scars Between Us

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

this is a really soild Skinlab record.....its up there with the previous two....its somewhere between disembody and revolting room...if your a fan of this band at all then dont miss out on this release....

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After a six year hiatus, the Bay Area's Skinlab are back with their long overdue, much anticipated new album, The Scars Between Us. Having been a fan since Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded, I have seen the ups and down of the band to say the least. To this day, Disembody: The New Flesh is still one of my favorite albums of all time, but 2002's Revolting Room...um yea, not so much. I'm just wondering after all this time, can the boys from Cali-for-ni-a still bring it?

With most albums, a band will put their strongest tracks at the beginning to immediately grab the listener's attention. Well, this isn't the case with The Scars Between Us. I found both of the opening tracks to be a little stale and monotonous. "Face Of Aggression" and "Amphetamine God" have their share of double bass, upbeat brutality, and hellacious vocals, but I found that they really followed the same path. They aren't bad songs, but the songwriting is anything but stellar; and coming from Skinlab, I expect better than this. It's like Skinlab felt that they had to come out and prove, "Hey we're still brutal, so here's two in-your-face songs." There are some sick grooves at the end of both, but not enough to make me come back for more.

Next on the metal plate is the colossal "Scream At The World." From the opening groove, you just feel absolutely violated. Monster guitars are forced down your throat as Steev Esquivel vocally murders it. Skinlab then lay down a solid-as-concrete up-tempo groove that will surely wake the dead. Now THIS is the Skinlab of old!

"Karma Burns" takes us back to the slower, more dark Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded days. The creepy guitar tones are layered perfectly with Esquivel's low, evil singing voice. The chorus opens up to huge walls of plodding, distortion-filled goodness. The pace does pick up a bit, which just adds to the massiveness that is the "Bay Area" sound.

"Paper Trails" is yet another amazing track just dripping with disgusting heaviness. The opening bass and drum lines are intertwined with a sweet guitar bounce that will "make-ya shake what the good lawd gave-ya." The song really mixes the great grooves of Disembody: The New Flesh and the best dynamics of The Revolting Room.

The last few tracks on the album really deserve mention. "Bloodclot" is a fast (I mean two minutes fast), meaty dose of in-your-face, hate-filled "whole-lotta ass whippin." "My Vendetta" brings Skinlab's sound out in full force. The guitars are filled with Grand Canyon style grooves that will make you want to slap your momma. The drum and bass work are top notch, while Esquivel screams and shrieks like a monster from the bowels of hell. Totally awesome!

Although The Scars Between Us has a few tracks that I really couldn't get into, the album as a whole is fantastic. There may even be a few production issues here and there, but it never takes away from the full-on beatdown that this album delivers. Even after a long absence, Skinlab still show that they truly are a force to be reckoned with.

OUR RATING
(4/5)

Surprised to see nobody reviewing this album, unfortunately there aren't enough fans for this band, too bad this is what I consider the most underated band in metal I can think of. This is a very solid offering that may take a few spins to fully feel it, but once you listen to it on your ipod without distractions you can then appreciate it for what it is, and that is brutal crushing metal. Too many bands have a great sound but their vocals just plain suck, I'm talking to you Pissing Razors, awesome amazing guitar work, but the vocals just suck I'm sorry. Not to worry here however Steve Esquivel sounds pissed off and very convincingly, he also does have vocal range and can do clean. I won't review each song individually they're aren't any bad songs on here every song on here are pretty much 8.5-9.5 no 10's unfortunatley but there is potential to build upon this style in the future. This record particularly feels like a return to form and would fit right inbetween Disembody and Revolting Room, mostly like Disembody though as it's clealry more raw and crosses more boundaries metalwise. I saw these guys years ago when Disembody first came out, they were opening for Six Feet Under at the time, I just remember I came to see SFU, but I couldn't stop thinking of Skinlab, there were freakin insane. Anybody who love some quality thrash/groove metal, (I hate the groove metal term but that's what it's been dubbed) should check out any Skinlab album, I'd recomend Disembody over any of them but they're all good even Revolting Room which gets hated on for some reason??? I don't get that, it's less heavy than the others but not by much, in fact I think that album has some of their best songwriting period, not a sellout or slowdown record by any means, more like an attempt to reach out to a broader audience with more traditional style. Anyways if this album is a sign of things to come for this band I will eagerly awaiting the next record as I anticipate it to be epic, these guy haven't seem to lost their aggression or passion for metal. Support this band if you like Machine Head or Sepultura type stuff, death to Linkin Park