Skirmish - Through The Abacinated Eye
Hailing from Finland, Skirmish are an organic thrash band with some Scandinavian influence, from their opening notes on ‘Premonition’, I’m immediately warming to the tone and feel of the release, its living and breathing and it is far from stale. ‘Conquest’ opens and grabs you by the throat, thundering into action, but taking a few seconds for the drums to catch up with the song; it starts a little behind the tempo, but that aside, when the verse starts, you are in welcoming territory. The solo is one of those solos you feel you have been part of for many years; the arrangement is very pleasing and seamlessly blended with the rest of the track, one of the stand out tracks for sure. ‘Insurgency’ almost sounds like the debut ‘I’ album, gurgling vocals but a supporting rhythm section that simply blows away all if any competition, this also applies to the opening notes of ‘Mystery I A Blazing Dream’.
The chord structures and tone often remind me of frozen wastelands of northern hyper blasting blackened thrash, there is certainly something familiar in this approach, and this is heard in partial quarters of ‘Indebted’ prior to the solo. This leads me to believe that this song is of two parts, after the solo, the momentum increases and a thrashing barrage comes out of my speakers like that of modern day Artillery, it has that same energy and power, this is a pretty special album. ‘Astral Infinity’ is a stunning piece of heavy thrash, the solo rips through your soul and the powerhouse of the reminder sonically challenges all those who would not even come close to matching this strength. The only constructive criticism I can give if that the guitars could have been double tracked during the solo, this would really set the bar very high, if it is not already from what is on offer. Truly, this is a harsh lesson in heavy death thrash (even with some slide guitar just audible during ‘Death Beyond’!), this squashes most of the pretenders and ‘Skirmish’ offers a level of excitement that is not often bettered. This is an album worth every bit of your hard earned cash; these Finn’s really take it to the man and provide a stale genre with a deserved breath of fresh air, or rather massive army boot kick up the ass.
The chord structures and tone often remind me of frozen wastelands of northern hyper blasting blackened thrash, there is certainly something familiar in this approach, and this is heard in partial quarters of ‘Indebted’ prior to the solo. This leads me to believe that this song is of two parts, after the solo, the momentum increases and a thrashing barrage comes out of my speakers like that of modern day Artillery, it has that same energy and power, this is a pretty special album. ‘Astral Infinity’ is a stunning piece of heavy thrash, the solo rips through your soul and the powerhouse of the reminder sonically challenges all those who would not even come close to matching this strength. The only constructive criticism I can give if that the guitars could have been double tracked during the solo, this would really set the bar very high, if it is not already from what is on offer. Truly, this is a harsh lesson in heavy death thrash (even with some slide guitar just audible during ‘Death Beyond’!), this squashes most of the pretenders and ‘Skirmish’ offers a level of excitement that is not often bettered. This is an album worth every bit of your hard earned cash; these Finn’s really take it to the man and provide a stale genre with a deserved breath of fresh air, or rather massive army boot kick up the ass.
- Premonition
- Conquest
- Insurgency
- Mystery In A Blazing Dream
- Death Beyond
- Astral Infinity
- Indebted
- The Forlorn Masque
