UMUR
"Skin the Living" is the debut full-length studio album by US, Wisconsin based death metal act Jungle Rot. The album was released through Pure Death Records in 1996. Jungle Rot formed in 1992 and released two 1995 demos before being signed for the release of this debut album. "Skin the Living" is not a freshly recorded debut album though, as it´s actually a reissue of Jungle Rot´s second 1995 demo of the same title. This time just in album format.
But fear not though that "Skin the Living" features a demo quality sound production. It´s certainly a both raw, brutal, and unpolished sounding album, but the sound production suits the rawness of the music well, and for the genre it´s not a sound production which sticks out as much worse sounding that what is the standard for contemporary studio recordings. It´s not the best sounding production either, but it´s certainly decent considering that this was originally released as a demo.
Stylistically Jungle Rot play a very basic, raw, and old school sounding type of death metal. Artists like Obituary and Six Feet Under are pretty valid references and it´s fans of that type of death metal which will find this appealing. Upon conclusion this is neither a revolution of old school death metal nor is it the best quality release in the genre, but it´s a solid quality release and fans of the genre should find loads to appreciate here. A 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating is warranted.
