Album Review: Skeletal Remains – Fragments of the Ageless
Reviewed by Sam Jones
Skeletal Remains are easily amongst my favourite death metal acts of our time; few extreme metal bands have managed to reciprocate their unbridled, blunt force assault reminiscent in older acts like Demolition Hammer and Deicide. Formed in 2011, out of California, United States, originally as Anthropophagy, the band soon changed their name to Skeletal Remains following the release of their first Demo, and it didn’t take long for them to make an impact. Beyond The Flesh, their first full length record, released in 2012, was followed soon by their 2015 opus, Condemned To Misery, cementing the band as a reliable act that could deliver on one quality record after another. Since then, the release of 2018’s Devouring Mortality and their most recent record, 2020’s The Entombment Of Chaos, has only solidified the band’s place in death metal’s modern pantheon. Now rolling out their fifth full length album and roping in a new bassist and drummer, each earning their first album credits for Skeletal Remains, the band continue their partnership with Century Media Records. It’s time to see what album five has in store for us and how the band dynamic has changed, or remained, with the addition of new members
If anything, I’d argue the intensity of their performance has only ramped up since The Entombment Of Chaos. This record feels to punch even harder than previous efforts have pulled off, which is saying something considering the impact every record by the band possesses. This is a record that’s designed to be played loud, at the risk of deafening you, due to the intensity of their playing. Skeletal Remains only continue to utterly disregard your personal sanctity as they move from one track to the next, but while their instrumental elements have just as much vitriol as ever it’s in the vocals that I found myself truly encapsulated. The band have always had a prominent and powerful vocal presence in the form of longtime frontman Chris Monroy, yet his delivery throughout feels to have picked up a flair of savagery that I haven’t recalled in the past. His performance has always been monstrous, evoking the brutal and primal apathy Skeletal Remains have always harnessed, but there are moments where his sustained notes bring forth a rasping yet baritone style that actually makes them even heavier. In addition, the vocals are at the forefront of the band’s performance, they’re given plenty of room at the precipice of the record to make their mark so this is a delivery that’s without any semblance of mercy and complements the songwriting excellently.
Any fears that longtime fans may have had to the addition of another new drummer can rest easy with Pierce Williams. The man is a sheer machine as he blasts one frantic pattern after another with zero hesitation as per what the listener may wish to receive. Half the reason this record feels to hit so hard is bound up in the drumming, and like much of the album it forgoes any concept of restraint to kill you where you sit or stand. The amount of power his bass drums bring to the table is staggering as they don’t merely accompany the rest of the band, but instead fill the entirety of the space left the rest of the band can’t touch through their own instrumental limitations. When the drums are playing at their most devastating, Skeletal Remains leave not a morsel of room available for your mind to possibly wander; they effectively lock you into this album, inferring the impossibility of escape. With that said, while the band are hardly known for relaxing the ante, the drums don’t just spam a small handful of patterns either. There’s a surprising variety to Williams’ performance as while he may be dishing out blistering bass drums, the rest of his kit is providing another side that leans towards something more methodical. The drums are just as lively and electric as any riff herein.
It warms my metal heart to acknowledge just how relentless Skeletal Remains are, and it’s seen best in how they apply the filthiest, most frantic guitar playing they’ve done yet. Fewer death metal bands these days are prepared to go full force on soloing and I personally believe that, while some may deem it superficial, there’s a frenetic, seething quality to it that undeniably fuses well with extreme metal and especially with a band as destructive as this one. In this instance, it’s not a case of the songwriting actively telling you the signs when the band will undergo a solo or prepare you for a shift in the track structure. The band will be playing as you’ve come to expect them to, with all the energy they can hurl, and then they’ll throw the nastiest, most mind-melting guitar solo you’ve heard this year on top of it. The total cacophony such a stacking performance brings a vortex to their performance that cannot be denied, cannot be ignored. Moreover it’s not like the band actively slow down at any moment to give you breathing room before diving into the solo, or slowing the solo down. The band play so fast and heavily that, when the solo comes into play, the fist they throw might as well punch right through the cranium, let alone make an indistinguishable mess of your face.
It is not funny just how total of an experience Fragments Of The Ageless is. Speed and power go hand in hand for Skeletal Remains, but this is the first time I feel completely rooted to the spot as this record plays; every track that follows the next just destroys me again and again. Their previous releases have always possessed enormous strength but I feel like this is the heaviest thing they’ve ever recorded and produced. It is obscene just how fast and remorselessly they play; perhaps other extreme metal acts break down their songwriting into more segmented, methodical sections where bands in question carefully move through one bit to the next so you don’t lose a second of what they give you, Skeletal Remains however just kill you. There is no overriding context applied to their music, no great commentary to their songwriting, there is nothing else being said other than the performance these four guys bring to the record; it’s a much more straightforward approach to death metal but there’s a damned reason why this approach still, and will always, work. This record is a supernova in sonic form as it continuously blasts you with monolithic energy and, even when they install a brief interlude towards the album’s end, it still carries the vibe of annihilation over to the proceeding track so even when you get that opportunity to recover, you know full well the punishment isn’t over yet and the band still want to play with you. It’s absolutely bestial.
In conclusion, Fragments Of The Ageless is a tour de force, grievous bodily laceration to the entire human anatomy. Akin to a tank rolling over you, then reversing over your crushed form to drive over you once more, Skeletal Remains unleash absolutely everything they have here which is saying something given the reception every succeeding album release of theirs has garnered throughout their career. This a record that will send you through whirlwinds and, by its end, you’ll be wanting to replay it simply to experience it all over again, or to reinforce precisely what you heard the first time round. While every album of theirs has been a hit, there has always been the sense their soundscape was always hitting the very edge of the wall and was always on the cusp of breaking free; it’s with this record I think they’ve finally done so. If they could break the sound barrier, they would. It’s just one seething, fuming song after another that refuses to let up the intensity as Skeletal Remains go out of their way to leave you as demolished and unrecognisably obliterated as feasibly possible. If this is the direction the band are now undergoing I am even more hyped for the band’s future. Skeletal Remains have yet to release anything that I could deem a lesser product from the band, and now they have a fifth album to add to their roster of already exemplary records. I think it’s going to be amongst the year’s heaviest releases too, owing to the incessant beating you’re receiving here. Arguably amongst, or standing at the zenith, as their very best, Fragments Of The Ageless is going to destroy eardrums upon its release.
