Skeletal Remains - Beyond the Flesh

SKELETAL REMAINS - Beyond the Flesh (F.D.A. Rekotz - LP 2012)

One morning I finally got the long awaited vinyl edition of “Beyond the Flesh” LP by Americans from Skeletal Remains and when I played it immediately my first thoughts on the opening sounds were: “damn, this really sounds like a long lost recording from the early 90’s, more so, it sounds like it has been recorded in that damn Morrisound Studio!!!!”. Yeah man, I really do think so, sound wise Skeletal Remains managed to get the material close to the Floridian classics of the early 90’s, such as “Impending Doom”, “The Dead Shall Inherit”, “Death Shall Rise” and “Dreams of the Carrion Kind”, just to name those very few. And obviously I would be stupid if I didn’t like it. I love those old LPs and constantly have been listening to them for 20 years already and surely it is just amazing that nowadays a new band, such as Skeletal Remains, managed to recreate this feeling and the sound of those old LPs! For sure there is nothing wrong in it, if you ask me, especially as the music of those young American dudes (whose photo really reminds me the old Sepultura hehe) is just excellent and when both things are so killer all I can do is to announce that here is one of the most awesome new death metal releases played in the old school way.

I actually think that Skeletal Remains is a bit different to most of the other current old styled death metal bands. I mean, if you go through what is going on nowadays you’ll see that 90% of them either sound like Dismember or Incantation, with some, which take an influence from Asphyx or Autopsy. Meanwhile not so many bands really sound like Skeletal Remains… with inspirations taken from bands like Monstrosity, Cancer, Disincarnate, Obituary (“Cause of Death”), Pestilence (“Consuming Impulse”), Death (“Leprosy” and “Spiritual Healing” era), Gutted, Resurrection and Baphomet – so, mainly the famous old Roadrunner Records roster. Skeletal Remains is really close to those bands, sound and music wise they did their homework very well and the resemblance is so close! But I love it. I like the riffing so much, the production as well, and of course those killer vocals of Chris Monroy, who sounds a bit like a mix between Chuck Schuldiner, John Tardy and Martin van Drunen.

So, maniacs of the old Floridian scene (plus Pestilence!), get around and bang your heads as Skeletal Remains provides you an album, which you wanted to hear and which hasn’t been released for 12 years or more, as I guess this is more or less the last time something like this has been recorded. None of the old classic bands sound like that anymore, they don’t have the guts and passion for it, most of them don’t even exist, but who cares, if Skeletal Remains is a band, which we wanted to hear for so long? This album truly sounds like a continuation of old Death albums, old Obituary or the Disincarnate LP. Or whatever band I have mentioned above… and I don’t know if it is only me, but that Gorguts’ “Disincarnated” cover sounds so damn close to the original… Ha, I really, really like it a lot. None of the songs on “Beyond the Flesh” sounds weak, the whole time Skeletal Remains plays killer tunes and maaaaan, it is just wonderful to hear such tracks as “Extirpated Vitality”, “Reconstructive Surgery”, “Traumatic Existence” or “Anthropophagy”. The material is extremely tight, brutal and has a killer dark atmosphere and the songwriting remains on the highest level all the way through. There’s just nothing bad I could say about “Beyond the Flesh” and that is something what I am extremely happy about. It was worth waiting all those years to finally get such inspiring and excellent bands as Skeletal Remains and so many other killer young death metal bands. I only wish I could put my hands also on Skeletal Remains’ only demo “Desolate Isolation”, but that seems almost impossible now. Anyway, I strongly recommend this LP to all death maniacs out there; buy it or die for it.

Standout tracks: “Extirpated Vitality”, “Reconstructive Surgery”, “Traumatic Existence”, “Anthropophagy”, “Disincarnated”

Final rate: 90/100