Reviews list for Skeletonwitch - Beyond the Permafrost (2007)

During the first quarter of the 21st century, there has been no thrash metal band that has piqued my interest in the genre quite like Skeletonwitch. They have been one of my most consistently solid bands in the genre since I really started paying attention around 2007, and only grew in popularity for me when I started to embrace the more extreme of the metal subgenres around 2010. Skeletonwitch's brand of old school Iron Maiden riffs, modified with faster grooves, a healthy dose of death metal guttural vocals and a sprinkle of black metal tossed in just to keep you guessing. Beyond the Permafrost was not my first exposure to this band, but after hearing it in full again, it really gets to the crux of my main concern with thrash metal as a whole.

And that concern is in the songwriting. Yeah, I can admit that Beyond the Permafrost can be a bit one-note at times, especially the longer it goes on, but that one-note mentality allows for this album to be far more concise than a typical thrash metal album. Skeletonwitch do not waste any time here as songs are concise and poignant. Guitar does play an integral role here, but the guitar solos are quick, technically impressive and get us back to the meat-and-potatoes expediently, while the main riffs almost take the form of an earworm considering how many times you hear them played over such a short period of time. 

Given that Skeletonwitch are not a full fledged tribute/homage band to the early "extreme" thrash giants like Slayer and Possessed, the album does have some variety. You will hear the occasional blast beat in the percussion, but they serve primarily as fills and embellishment rather than forming the grooves. What makes the comparisons make sense is when Skeletonwitch break out into a black metal riff with open chordal guitar harmonies and slower percussion grooves. While songs like "Remains of the Defeated" serve as too much of a good thing as well as an interlude, it isn't like the drastic style change is out-of-pocket, since Skeletonwitch have been embracing these types of grooves throughout the record. 

One thing that I would love for Skeletonwitch to embrace would be a couple of longer songs to show off their songwriting capability over an extended timeframe. The bands most recent album, Devouring Radiant Light does exactly that and would serve as quality, complimentary listening material if you find this album to be too simple for its own sake. As for me, I like the simplicity of Beyond the Permafrost more than most and pieces of it reminds me of early Kreator and more recently, Power Trip and Enforced. 

Best Songs: Sacrifice for the Slaughtergod, Beyond the Permafrost, Cast into the Open Sea, Soul Thrashing Black Sorcery, Within My Blood