#faithxtractor — Public Fediverse posts

Shed the Skin – The Carnage Cast Shadows Review

By Mark Z.

I don’t know how some people can keep creating art for so long. Somehow fucking Clint Eastwood is still making movies, and that guy looked ancient when Gran Torino came out in 2008. Shed the Skin aren’t as old as Clint, but they’ve got a wealth of experience nonetheless. Formed in 2011 as a tribute to the long-defunct Ohio death metal group Blood of Christ, this sort-of-supergroup are comprised of several extreme metal veterans, including vocalist/guitarist Ash Thomas (Faithxtractor, Crucified Mortals), drummer Kyle Severn (Incantation), bassist Ed Stephens (Ringworm), and guitarist Matt Sorg (Ringworm, ex-Blood of Christ). On their previous four albums, the group offered up fun, no-nonsense death metal characterized by a sense of frenetic melody. While 2018’s We of Scorn was their high point to me, they’ve never released anything bad, though I agree with Akerblogger that 2020’s The Forbidden Arts was a bit too bloated. With The Carnage Cast Shadows, the group are back again, here to ostensibly show us that these olde dogs still got it.

And honestly, they kind of do. The Carnage Cast Shadows shows Shed the Skin still doing what they do best, all while sounding as inspired as a spritely young act just releasing their debut. As before, these songs largely barrel forward with a sense of belligerent glee, often carried by dexterous, melodic guitar lines that recall later Carcass. The opening title track highlights this energy right from the start, kicking open the gates with fast, pummeling drums and a quick, wriggly riff that’s sure to burrow its way into your brain. The next track, “Crook of the Sacred Skies,” keeps up the momentum with similarly swift tempos while avoiding redundancy via the harsher chords of its main riff. Through it all, Ash sounds as wild as ever, with his manic, garbled growls occasionally overlaid with higher, raspier vocals in a way that recalls Deicide.

Given Shed the Skin’s pedigree, it’s unsurprising that they know how to make an album work well, but The Carnage Cast Shadows is particularly successful due to its variety and tight track lengths. Songs like “Ice Hearted Herald” and “Henge Tomb” mix things up by slowing the tempo early, but it’s in the record’s back half where things get especially good. The opening moments of crossover thrash in “Formorian Hordes” initially make it seem like it’s going to be a repurposed Ringworm song before the track takes an awesome turn by incorporating jumpy couplets and a swirling, melodic solo that recalls modern Kreator. “Scion of Nyx” slings chunky chords at the listener and uses a dramatic pause to great effect, while the closing track, “Stolen from the Storm God,” uses a more measured main melody to end the album in fine form.

In all, there’s little to complain about. While songs like “Swarm and Talons” and “The Mind’s Vermin” don’t stand out as much as their brethren, there really isn’t a bad cut here, and the fact that many of these eleven songs are less than four minutes long means that nothing overstays its welcome. The biggest issue is the string of mid-tempo songs in the record’s first half, which subdues the energy a bit too much after the pit bull viciousness of the first two tracks. Fortunately, the production is great, with punchy drums, a beefy guitar tone, and a forceful overall sound. As always, the performances are also sizzling with inspiration, with each member sounding like they’re giving it their all and having an absolute blast while doing so. Matt and Ash deliver an endless onslaught of lively riffs and solos, Kyle delivers an aggressive drum performance, and seemingly every moment is crammed with Ash’s crazed vocals.

No one’s going to say this album is reinventing death metal, but that’s not the point of Shed the Skin. This project is about dudes who are good at death metal playing good death metal. On The Carnage Cast Shadows, they’ve succeeded by offering inspired performances, varied songs, and tight runtimes. Those who have been following Shed the Skin are sure to enjoy this as much as anything they’ve done, and in the book of Mark Z, it’s one of their best releases yet. Take the plunge and bang that fukkin head!

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Hells Headbangers Records
Websites: shed-the-skin.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/shedtheskin
Releases Worldwide: May 16th, 2025

#2025 #35 #AmericanMetal #BloodOfChrist #Carcass #CrucifiedMortals #DeathMetal #Deicide #Faithxtractor #HellsHeadbangerRecords #Kreator #May25 #Review #Reviews #Ringworm #ShedTheSkin #TheCarnageCastShadows

Record(s) o’ the Month – January 2025

By Angry Metal Guy

The tradition at Angry Metal Guy has been the strong start to the year where, like so many people with New Year’s Resolutions, you stick with ’em for a while, and then they taper off, sliding later and later as the year goes on. But this year, even the dopamine kick of listing everything in some kind of ranking order and getting lots of positive feedback from readers didn’t help me shake my funk. Alas, that means that I got way behind, and no one was available to pick up my slack. I apologize. However, since I am breaking the trend this year, maybe that means that 2025 will be significantly different!1 So, here’s your R(s)otM for January. It’s a beautiful time to be alive, my friends.2

Mutagenic Host // The Diseased Machine [January 3rd, 2025 | Gurgling Gore | Dry Cough | Memento Mori | Bandcamp] — The death metal newcomers in Mutagenic Host are already impressing with their brand of old school-inflected, death metal-fueled technological cynicism. With such timely, relevant themes for this nightmare fueled hellscape that we’re living in as the backdrop to the rifftacular and muscular tuneage contained on The Diseased Machine—out January 3rd, 2025, from a melange of labels [buy it here on Bandcamp!]—the whole package dropkicks the listener from the opening strains to the final moments and has entranced the staff of Angry Metal Guy (as well as a-me, Angry Metal Guy). As the recently demoted n00b Tyme opined in his review:3 “Mutagenic Host has released a death metal album that checks all the boxes, a rifferously frenzied affair of epic proportions. It will not be the only thing I recommend in 2025, but it’s undoubtedly the first. I will be intently eyeing Mutagenic Host, anticipating their next evolution, and fans of this style should, too.” Set up those Google alerts, folks!

Runner(s) up

The Halo Effect // March of the Unheard [January 10th, 2025 | Nuclear Blast | LOL, you want to own lossless digital files? No chance of that, loser!] — You can’t imagine that I moved to Gothenburg only to not begin shilling for everything that comes from this beautiful city. Let’s not kid ourselves, it’s actually a requirement of being Swedish that you shill for your home territory.4 Some things—like the In Flames discography following Colony—make the task of shilling hard; March of the Unheard makes it easy.

As a fan of the Gothenburg sound embodied in the conjoining of Dark Tranquillity and In Flames that builds the root of The Halo Effect’s sound, this is a delicious meal loaded with everything you need in a melodeath record. Add to that that Mikael Stanne is one of the best vocalists in metal whose performance raises the level of the record at every turn, and you’ve got yourself a Record o’ the Month. Fellow old Steel Druhm was equally impressed, if in his particularly understated way: “You can appreciate March of the Unheard as a lost Dark Tranquillity album or as a slick homage to a specific moment in metal history, and it works well both ways. This is a superior album to Days of the Lost with a much greater replay potential, and I’ve been surprised by how vital and fresh it is. Not bad for a bunch of olde dawgs retreading their own ancient stomping grounds. Here’s to the olden ways in these confusing modern days.”

Faithxtractor // Loathing and the Noose [January 10th, 2025 | Redefining Darkness Records | Bandcamp] — Faithxtractor—the band with the worst name since Fvneraryy Fvnkk—has returned with Loathing and the Noose, an ambitious evolution of their old-school death metal sound. Building on their 2023 record Contempt for a Failed Dimension, these Ohio death metallers have upped their game by fusing blackened thrash, melodeath, and bedeathened doom into a relentless (yet surprisingly dynamic!) assault. Faithxtractor balances brutality with surprising melody, innovating without losing their edge. And one guy—our very own Maddog, who I was shocked and a little disappointed to learn is both quite sane and human—sees this as the proof that they are carving out a place for themselves in the modern death metal landscape. He proselytized (more or less) pithily: “Faithxtractor makes it work by whole-assing their every move. Loathing and the Noose’s gargantuan death metal riffs, smooth songwriting, and excellence throughout its genre romp won me over.”

#2025 #Faithxtractor #Jan25 #LoathingAndTheNoose #MarchOfTheUnheard #MutagenicHost #RecordSOTheMonth #RecordsOfTheMonth #TheDiseasedMachine #TheHaloEffect