By: DeathViking

Posted: Jul 17, 2006

Skinless has made their triumphant return with its new album "Trample The Weak, Hurdle The Dead".  This is their fourth album and a return to the style of the 2002 EP "Miscreant" the release that came out before their third album "From Sacrifice To Survival". This new album wins back much respect after releasing their third album. This album clocks in at around 36 minutes with eight tracks. This album runs its course fairly quickly. This is to be partially expected from a death metal band, but even though the tracks are pretty good lengths, mostly in the four minute range, two more tracks would be great. Skinless has always been a little notorious for line-up changes. Hopefully they can settle into this one. Jason Keyser is taking care of the vocal duties now, and Bob Beaulac is taking care of the drums.

The album starts off with an apocalyptic sample from "The Planet Of The Apes" for the song 'Overlord', which is one of the best tracks on the album; the way it should be. This track does not start as a full on blast, but it picks up very quickly and the sound of the "old" Skinless is heard again. The second track starts out with the sample "War, it's fantastic!" by a voice that sounds like it is advertising something for television; keeping the level of seriousness down just a little. The second track however is nothing to be scoffed at. It is a very strong addition to the album, slowing things down and adding some chunk to the mix. Almost every track has some kind of sample attached to it, but not every track has a movie sample that goes along to it, however it seems that two of their best songs do though. At the end of the third track, which is also a really good one, you can hear tanks, guns, and other war sounds that bleed into the sample on the fourth track, which also happens to be the title track of the album starts off with a sample from the movie "Patton" when the general is giving his men a bit of a pre-fighting speech to get them going and in the mood to kill people. This is the best track of the album. The guitars are chunky, has a little speed at times, but they did not forget to add the groove either. The drums on this track are pretty quick for the most part. The last half of the album is not quite as driving and powerful as the first half. However the second half of the album has its higher moments, take for example in the fifth track 'Spoils Of The Sycophant'; it is the shortest track on the disc but there is more technicality involved in this one than any of the other tracks. The seventh track 'Execution Of Reason' is very interesting as well, it seems to be an ode to 'In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida'.

This album is definitely one of the best efforts made by this band. Noah Carpenter has left his trademark guitar style on this album. The vocalist Jason Keyser was a welcome addition to the fold. The last album seemed to be one of those chalked up on the bandwagon of albums that utilized clean vocals, without actually singing the parts and did not sound good at all. This guy does not try to do the clean parts, plain and simple. The new drummer has also earned his stripes with this recording. Bob Beaulac reminds me of some of the earlier Skinless drumming from George Torres, but he has his own way of doing things, and it fits in very nicely with the band setting. The last track on this album is a Black Sabbath cover called 'Wicked World' that has been brutalized into a death metal version. Do not get the wrong idea though. It is a worthy cover and this song does the best of the album to showcase the bass, but I am still not sure how well I like their brutal version of this song. The Black Sabbath version is actually about one minute shorter where Skinless has added blasts and their own take on things. This track will no doubt have its lovers and haters. I remain torn on this one.

Rating: 7½/10

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