UMUR
"United We Stand...Together We Fall" is the debut full-length studio album by US, California based power/speed/thrash metal act Skeptor. The album was independently released in January 2014. Skeptor were formed in 2011 and disbanded in 2015, making "United We Stand...Together We Fall" their sole studio album release in their original run.
Stylistically the music on "United We Stand...Together We Fall" is technical US power/speed/thrash metal and artists like Watchtower, Toxik, and Realm, are all valid references. This sounds an awful lot like it was released in the late 80s, so if that´s the sound Skeptor went for, they should be applauded for their efforts. It´s as authentic sounding as it gets 25 years later. The band are very well playing, delivering sharp thrashy riffing, melodic leads, and technical drumming, and lead vocalist Steven Villa is a powerful singer who hits some exceptionally high notes. He reminds me of Alan Tecchio (Watchtower, Hades, Non-Fiction), as he has a similar rather extreme way of performing high pitched screaming vocals.
The material on the 7 track, 34:21 minutes long album is well written, intriguing, and powerful. It´s fairly technical in nature, but not at the expense of raw and energetic speed/thrash metal power. "United We Stand...Together We Fall" is also well produced and upon conclusion it´s a very promising debut album by Skeptor. With it´s relatively long intro track "Turn It Off" and the "Savage Metal" instrumental track placed later on the album, it´s slightly disjointed and could probably have prospered from a better tracklist flow, but it´s a minor detail when the songwriting, sound production, and performances are as strong as they are here. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.