J-Man
In spite of their Californian origins, everything about the American outfit Skeletal Remains just reeks of old school Floridian death metal. Clearly born and raised on the likes of Obituary, Death, and Deicide, Skeletal Remains has not offered the most original material on their 2012 debut entitled Beyond the Flesh, but they do a great job at executing the style, and also stand as a refreshing change of pace from the largely Swedish-influenced focus of the recent old school death metal revival. Beyond the Flesh may not be essential listening, but any fan of American death metal certainly will find a lot to enjoy here.
Skeletal Remains plays a style of music most closely comparable to Obituary's Slowly We Rot and Death's Leprosy - the music is fairly simple while still remaining sophisticated, and everything down to the production sounds like it could've been a lost album from the late eighties' or early nineties'. The production has that distinct Morrisound Studios flavor (where many classic death metal releases were recorded, of course) characterized by left-and-right guitar tracks, deep bass sounds, and use of reverb on the drum tracks. I can't imagine any fan of Death's Leprosy not headbanging like a madman during songs like “Extirpated Vitality” and “Reconstructive Surgery”, and though the derivative nature of the music may be a potential turn-off, the tracks are so well composed and executed that it's hard not to be impressed.
Chris Monroy's vocals have that raw, “I just ate a box of nails for breakfast” style that makes frontmen like John Tardy, Patrick Mameli, and Chuck Schuldiner such standout vocalists - it's a style that I really miss from many of today's generic and indecipherable deep growlers. It adds some personality to the music when you're able to understand the lyrics and feel the emotion in every single word. The rest of the musicianship is up to par as well, with lots of great guitar solos and rock-solid riffs being delivered throughout the album's short 33 minute duration. The vinyl edition of Beyond the Flesh also includes a cover version of “Disincarnated” (from the 1991 Gorguts classic Considered Dead) delivered in a faithful fashion. It sounds a bit too close to the Gorguts original to really stand out IMO, but it's still a cool version of a great track.
Although Beyond the Flesh is the sort of album that would likely be regarded as a forgotten masterpiece if it were released twenty years ago, its overall lack of innovation makes for a release that sounds perhaps too 'safe' in the modern death metal climate. Skeletal Remains is still damn good at what they do, though, and anybody who enjoys acts like Obituary, Death, Morbid Angel, Deicide, Pestilence, and Gorguts can't go wrong with this one. This promising debut establishes Skeletal Remains as a band worth keeping an eye on in the coming years!