Devouring Radiant Light

Skeletonwitch have always been a curious, one-of-a-kind entity throughout their career. While nowadays there's a band like Necropanther nailing a similar style pretty much to a T, their way of blending thrash, black and death metal remained pretty much unique to them throughout the most part of their run. Since the insanely successful sophomore Beyond the Permafrost hit the shelves in 2007, three successive full-lengths more or less reaffirmed the same formula, until the watershed – vocalist Chance Garnette's abandonment. Pressure of expectations above his successor Adam Clemans' shoulders wasn't small, and the band decided to emphasize the detachment from their past by opting for an (almost) complete change of direction, releasing the here presented Devouring Radiant Light, which still ranks as their swansong five years later. Surely times haven't been the easiest for the band, and the mixed reception it met might have had something to do with it. But let's keep things in order, relax and have a seat, it's gonna be a long trip.

However, to get it immediately out of the way, I've never been that big on Skeletonwitch, so maybe that's why I don't hate this. Or better, I don't dislike this. Actually, scratch that, I rather like it.

Now, I might look like a dullard, a simpleton, someone simply out of touch with the matter, or a combination of the three, but really the first band that comes to my mind is Avenged Sevenfold, of all people. They had made a very similar step two years earlier with The Stage, confounding a lot of people who witnessed the same band that played 'Bat Country' launch themselves into 15-minutes long wannabe prog metal suites about the universe and philosophy containing Neil DeGrasse Tyson's speeches, especially considering how their previous LP was nothing more than a cover album poorly disguised as original material, just four years prior. You can imagine this kind of shock is guaranteed to both resound and alienate at least a portion of the band's fanbase. Needless to say, as a long-time fan, I've come to consider it their magnum opus, if you're interested. (Although they're really testing my loyalty and open-mindedness with Life Is but a Dream... – but that's another story.)

One thing I can't deny though, of course, is that Devouring Radiant Light really marks a noticeable departure from their tried and tested style. Gone are the rapid-fire, short tracks that rarely stayed on the same path throughout all their concise length, enter long, atmospheric compositions filled with minimal, but tasteful melodic lines and whatnot. Okay, not everything on this album requires a certain dose of patience, with 'Carnarium Eternal' even clocking at three exact minutes, but you still better not be expecting 'Upon Wings of Black' or 'Crushed Beyond Dust' to start playing whenever one of these ends. The band opening things up with the seven minutes of 'Fen of Shadows', the first two of which spent on a slow build-up, in complete countertrend to every other release of theirs, is as clear as a declaration of intents can be, just like the foggy dude in a hoodie looking behind his back when compared to the Baizley- or Bouzikov-drawn colourful covers seen in the past.

It's somewhat of a surprise, then, that such a massive opener finds its best weapons in the subtle details – the continuous, if slightly repetitive in the long run, interchange of rhythms driven by Dustin Boltjes, the few lead guitar notes in the chorus, even the sustained solo vaguely echoing something like The Somberlain-era Dissection – and it's an immediate highlight. Curiously enough, when one comes to think about it, the guitars themselves, still held by founders duo Nate Garnette/Scott Hedrick, are the main draw of Devouring Radiant Light, despite being at the opposite end of the spectrum compared to literally every other release by the band. Riffs indeed leave the spotlight to those constant lead flourishes, which successfully imbue the album of a convincing wannabe Swedish atmosphere almost always, with only the ornaments on 'When Paradise Fades' ending up being a bit too pedestrian for my tastes. The longer title-track, while being far from unpredictable, even gives me Vampire vibes. All of those are welcome, if I didn't make it clear enough.

This is not to say that the guitarwork is completely devoid of any of their past 'trademark' thrashy riffing, as 'When Paradise Fades' and killer 'The Luminous Sky' offer more than a glimpse of 100% unmistakably Skeletonwitch-esque sequences, and 'Carnarium Eternal' even qualifies as a short thrasher from the height of its 3:00 runtime, arguably unimpressive on its own (save for that insanely cool 'Rise...! Rise...! RIIIIIISE!' refrain), but acting as the short detour between the two longest compositions. Yeah... about those. Amassing almost 16 minutes when coupled, 'The Vault' and 'Sacred Soil' ought to be the most controversial episodes, and the easy go-to point for any criticism. I can say that they respectively contain: a vaguely exotic refrain, and an ethereal, almost post-black guitar-only lead section, and you'll be wondering 'What the hell are these things doing in a goddamn Skeletonwitch album?', and you would be right, but again, this is not the right approach, if you ask me. They also contain two of my favourite moments on the entire LP – the sudden switch to a rare thrash beat at 7:00, and that incredible harmonized opening black metal riff, respectively – and overall I can't find much to complain about either. Even the immersive 3-minute-long intro of 'The Vault' isn't just a colossal waste of time, which would have been an easy concrete wall to crash into, when taking this route. Oh yeah, Clemans is somewhere in this landscape, not stealing the scene with his perfectly serviceable growls and shrieks, but it's not that Garnette was Mr. Variety, face it. In fact, the subtle (again) clean backing vocals used towards the end of personal highlight 'Temple of the Sun' are a complete novelty for the band.

But how did a band come to a change of course so clear? As is often the case, EPs tell the true story. The first release of Clemans-fronted Skeletonwitch was actually 2016's The Apothic Gloom, also included on the Japanese press of this album, which already showed a band willing to take their ever-present black metal influences one step further, into proper meloblack sections. Granted, it was first and foremost an initial attempt at experimenting with the new dude, as confirmed by the fact that none of those tracks had found a place on the LP (although 'Black Waters' pretty much deserved it), so it was more of a middle ground between the two extremes, but already 'Red Death, White Light' could not be considered a typical Skeletonwitch track, out of intellectual honesty. Under this point of view, Devouring Radiant Light shows a band building upon that sound, rendering the whole thing more focused and memorable, benefitting of a superior mix and, above all, of a decidedly more convincing performance by Clemans, now adding strong, deep growls to his repertoire. How could it, then, be almost panned when the EP was vastly recognized as a right move? God only knows.

Alas, ultimately, as with every case of a band breaking out of their norm, there really isn't a 'right' answer to whether they succeeded or not. Many times the 'at least change name' argument has been unleashed in similar situations, and I rarely agreed with it: some bands sure are reliable, but not all of them should be limited to sound just like... how people know they sound like, you know? I'm not even sure whom this long rambling is for, as every reviewer who hated this album made more than reasonable arguments for it, and the last thing I'm trying to do is change their mind. So, perhaps the punchline could be something along the lines of: listen only if you fall in the 'not being a betrayed die-hard Skeletonwitch fan and not knowing enough black metal bands to notice how the whole thing maybe isn't even original in the slightest' category. Avoid otherwise.

It's not what many wanted, that's for sure. It will never be remembered as their best release, nor it is from an 'objective' standpoint (as much as it may mean). Beyond the Permafrost stands proudly and deservedly as an epochal album light years ahead of the pack, and I've honestly come to appreciate with time how fuckin' brutal Serpents Unleashed really is, especially as a furious rebound from the dull meanderings of Forever Abomination. Devouring Radiant Light is nonetheless their album I return the most to. The one I listen to more gladly. Ultimately, my favourite of theirs. If one asks me my favourite Skeletonwitch song – well it hasn't happened so far and it's unlikely it ever will but whatever – I'm sure I'd say one from this album. I respect them for having shaped an iconic sound in the new millennium, but for as many betrayed fans hoping Devouring Radiant Light was just an extremely realistic nightmare there are, I for one regret the fact that it seems to have become an unfortunate unicum in their discography.

Five years later and counting.

'We do not gleam for you, but shine for ourselves.'

I honestly feel guilty for wanting Skeletonwitch to create longer songs. After 2009's Breathing the Fire I was hoping they experimented with longer formats for their subsequent albums. I envisioned perhaps an over 5-minute tune or two per album, tops, without changing their formula, just an extended, more epic approach to their well-established concise soul thrashing black sorcery. That didn't happen, anyway, at least not in their Chance years. Adam Clemans arrived, and suddenly the band started breaching the five-minute mark, albeit in a more straightforward, less exciting manner. Man, what the hell? “The Apothic Gloom” and “Red Death, White Light”, from Clemans' debuting EP a few years back, weren't bad but couldn't meet the high expectations I had formed in my fanboy wankerish dreams. Forward to 2018, the 'witch has released their sixth LP, the first with Clemans, and their longest to date, with four tracks being over six minutes and forty seconds in length, aaand… it sucks. Big time.

Don't believe me? Let's do a simple exercise, then. Just listen to the first 45 seconds of every Skeletonwitch album opener starting with their debut's "The Skullsplitter" until you hit “Fen of Shadows” in this one. See? Before, it took them just a couple of seconds to hook you immediately. Now, after almost two minutes of needless build up one realizes one terrible truth: These guys have lost it, almost completely. Gone are the masterfully crafted scorching riffs, the delicious melodies and their concise but fun-stuffed style of old. In its place, we encounter a greater desire to explore atmosphere and sad melodies in the vein of the Cascadian black metal scene. Not that I dislike every band that employs said aesthetic, but never in my wildest dreams I though Skeletonwitch would attempt to become one of them. Sure, you'll hear the occasional semi-thrashy moment in Devouring Radiant Light, precise d-beats and fast tempos, but it's now mostly watered down amidst this unwarranted modern blackened non-sense, and pointlessly stretched compositions. The production doesn't help either, with a grainy mix that feel out of place for the style.

I have to give Clemans credit for trying to sound a bit closer to Garnette this time around. Not a complete success, but much better than his previous hardcore kid approach. That is practically the only positive point this record possesses, though. Of course he's just not as good as Chance, but in a similar manner to the latest Immortal release and Demonaz' vocal delivery in it, he pays homage to its better known (and much superior) previous frontman. My main complaint this time, is with the extremely talented musicians, especially riff-masters N8 Garnette and Scott Hendrick, both of which have created some of the most outstanding rhythmic riffs in the whole metal realm for the last decade. Devouring Radiant Light features an alarming scarcity of those. In their quest for melancholic ambience, these gents have forgotten to forge blood-quickening riffs. Most songs have functional but generic ones, a lot of them are mid-paced chug-alongs and while the melodies are overall better, they too don't sound very inspired. The solos are also subpar given the proficiency of Skeletonwitch's axe team, devoid of explosion and excitement. The best guitar performance here can be found in the “When Paradise Fades” and especially in “Temple of the Sun”, the best track here by far, almost managing to conjure up the magic of old.

I know what they say about experimentation and “growing up” as an artist, but one can counter that argument with the phrase “if it ain't broken…”. It certainly depends on the band, and I'm not against artists trying new things, but in Skeletonwitch's case, their signature early sound was virtually perfect, so fun and successful it led to other bands trying to exploit it (Battlecross, Black Fast, Bulletbelt and so on…) with varying degrees of success. Listening to something like this album's title-track or the elongated dirge “The Vault” makes me either want to listen to old Skeletonwitch or to other atmospheric black metal bands that display this style in much interesting ways. Closer "Sacred Soil" almost manages to make something worthwhile within this new aesthetic, but fall a bit short.

Though apparently tasty and substantial, Devouring Radiant Light doesn't provide the required nutrition for the average metalhead, being low on carbs and good riffs, high on unnecessary fat and inflated with meh-tamines. For me this is one of the greatest disappointments of the decade. The only thing I'd like from this band from now on is for them to recapture their former short-format glory or their foul-mouthed original frontman… or both, ideally. In the meantime, Skeletonwitch sounds and looks just like the Nâzgul-guy on the cover; hollow, weightless and uneventful.

With the new singer joining on you never know what you're gonna get. Much like a box of chocolates. Here we get a blackened thrash album that exudes a sadness palpable on the very first listen. All other Skeletonwitch albums have a bouncy upbeat element that makes the listener lift up their lives; not given by the vocals (they've always been pretty lifeless) but the instrumentation. Even in the 'happiest" of moments, it's still steeped with morose prose and sound. "When Paradise Fades" has an uptick in positive emotions but still you feel the somber emotion creeping around.

The songwriting on this release is some of the best the band has ever written in their rather middling career. I can see where this diversion of song writing style would throw many off their trail but I like the style. There's more emphasis on the melodic death metal portion and eases up on the riffage for a more mellow release this time around. That equates to a nice balance of melodeath and riff-laden tracks. The songs tend to transition wonderfully from section to section. There are some points that feel a little bland but I feel part of it is the wide spectrum of song lengths. In order of length: 3:00, 4:00, 4:01, 4:42, Then a big jump to 6:39, 6:46, 7:58, and 8:57. You'd think the longer ones are more bland, but that it's the opposite! The song "The Vault" is my favorite and is double the length of half the tracks on the album. It never once feels drawn out or repetitive. The same is true for "Fen of Shadows", which is another solid track.

The guitar work is what you've come to expect from this band but just a little mellowed out as far as straight ripping all the time. There are some good riffs in here but it's the lead guitar that makes an impression. The leads are noodly when they have to be and searing when they can. The bass slinks out when it needs to but mainly sticks closer to the guitar. The drums bring nothing new that hasn't been done before by them. Now the vocals, I feel, are hollow. Sometimes Skeletonwitch has performed this way in the past, but on this album they are the most soulless and empty. You'd think that would suit the instrumentation well but it's a little too monotone... Look at me talking about monotone vocals about on a death metal review. What am I doing with my life?

Favorite tracks:
--The Vault
--Fen of Shadows
--Sacred Soil

Technical skill: 75% Originality: 67% Production: 80% Song writing: 83% Accessibility: 85%

Originally written and published on my site, MostlyYelling

I wanted to like Devouring Radiant Light. I don't, but I wanted to. Post-Chance Garnette Skeletonwitch seemed promising enough with new vocalist Adam Clemans on the 2016 comeback EP The Apothic Gloom. All they had to do was step up their game just a notch or two to really deliver something killer. The two singles off Devouring Radiant Light indicated that maybe they did. In context with the rest of the album, that's not the case.

Devouring Radiant Light's lead single "Fen Of Shadows" dropped back in late April. The track is a full eight minutes of blackened death metal with touches of an viking feel and plenty of lead guitar lines to catch your ear. "When Paradise Fades" debuted in June and took more of a modern retro-thrash-meets-heavy-metal approach that also fell well into the blackened realms of what you'd expect of Skeletonwitch, but that's when the cracks started showing. "Fen Of Shadows" is a solid eight minutes of varied material, but "When Paradise Fades" leaned pretty heavily on the main riff and never bothered to go anywhere else thematically. It just spins its wheels in the mud and belches up plumes of choking smoke. Which is basically the story of Devouring Radiant Light as a whole album - rage without substance.

The album's songwriting is one dimensional and leans heavily into themes that really can't carry a song in full, especially for songs that breach six and seven minutes. Sure, "Fen Of Shadows" was interesting as a single, but really only as a standalone work does it retain its luster. If this were a debut album from a brand new band, I'd call it fairly promising should they be able to build on that foundation. But Skeletonwitch has been around for 15 years. They've had Clemans since late 2015 and had time to work out whatever kinks there might be on The Apothic Gloom, or at least find and hone their new voice. Instead, Skeletonwitch presents varying shades of worn out blackened thrash metal that really should've stayed in the demo stages longer than it seems to have.

Adam Clemans is a good vocalist. I love his work in both Wolvhammer and Iron Thrones. He's just not a great fit for Skeletonwitch. Devouring Radiant Light feels like Skeletonwitch is trying to meet Clemans in the middle – they'll throw baseline melodic death/black metal songwriting in a bowl and hope Clemans can make something palatable of out of the dull. There's just no adventure or evolution of Skeletonwitch's sound on Devouring Radiant Light from their 2016 effort. It's just a flat, longer version of The Apothic Gloom. What makes this even more disappointing is that Skeletonwitch is clearly capable of changing it up and making good records. They've got five albums and EP between 2004 and 2013 with ex-vocalist Chance Garnette that range from pretty good to awesome, and now they've slowed that progression to a crawl.

Devouring Radiant Light is also loud and fuzzy in all the wrong ways. Clean guitar passages that explode into full band sections remain extremely close in, if not the exact same, volumes. There are simply no dynamics. The guitars sound oversaturated with distortion and it doesn't help that Clemans is screaming from under twenty tons of overdrive as well. Which is surprising considering Kurt Ballou's recordings are almost always some of my favorites of the year, but it's worth noting that the record was mixed by Fredrik Nordström and mastered by Brad Boatright. Devouring Radiant Light is, in a word, grating to listen to. It's all high-end frequencies, distortion, and thin black metal tones that pay homage to the early days of the genre, but don't really hold up in 2018 at all.

Oh well. I'd love to see Skeletonwitch get it together on their next effort. Maybe a little more time with Clemans will do them well. Maybe tension between the band and drummer Dustin Boltjes had something to do with the record's quality, since he was mysteriously let go right after its recording. Maybe ex-Job For A Cowboy drummer Jon Rice, who's currently playing with the band live, will join full time and make the next album phenomenal. All I can say with certainty is that Devouring Radiant Light just isn't doing it for me in a lot of ways.

We metalheads are an elitist bunch. We stake out boundaries and draw lines in the sand to differentiate bands or albums that are acceptable from those that are not. If a band changes direction in a way that puts it outside those boundaries, readmission to the safe zone can be a daunting task. While these boundaries may be unique to each individual listener, metalheads – as a group – seem to uniformly react the same way to music that falls outside them. I’m sure you’ve seen it yourself, even exhibited these reactions just as I have: “[fill in the blank] sucks!”

I say all of this because you – the comment reader – are bound to see many negative reviews of this album. Devouring Radiant Light is the first full length album by Skeletonwitch to feature a vocalist other than Chance Garnette, a co-founder of the band who performed on all prior releases. Longtime fans may feel like this change in the lineup moved Skeletonwitch outside their staked-out boundaries, and therefore deserves an automatic negative review (example: “No Chance, no Skeletonwitch!”). It is incumbent upon you to determine whether the negative review is written because the reviewer actually analyzed the music and has a rational reason for the rating, or if it can be attributed to the reactionary elitism that permeates metalhead culture. Good luck with your quest.

I stand before you to say that Devouring Radiant Light is a true 5-star record, and a contender for any credible metal album-of-the-year list for 2018. It is absolutely true that this record sounds very little like any of Skeletonwitch’s prior albums (the band’s recent EP, The Apothic Gloom, does foreshadow DRL nicely). There are several reasons for that. First and foremost is the change in vocalist from Chance Garnette to Adam Clemans. Chance had that perfect blackened-thrash metal voice that gurgled and gasped in a way that complemented Skeletonwitch’s trademark formula of compiling three-minute rippers in enough quantity to constitute an album. He was a cool dude that concluded live shows by reminding male fans, perhaps in a very direct way, to always please the women in their lives. A true gentlemen and musician for our modern age.

Adam was not brought to Skeletonwitch to simply be a Chance clone, and that’s a good thing because his vocal style is awesome in the context of the band’s new style. The second distinguishing factor that sets DRL apart from the band’s prior output is the big shift to what I describe as “epic, melodic black metal.” Half the songs on DRL are over six minutes long; only one is under four minutes. These long tracks each take you on a journey, and by the time you find yourself listening to Sacred Soil – the album’s brilliant closing track – you feel like you’ve earned the payoff it provides. You’ve completed the journey, finished the quest, conquered the enemy boss, or rescued the princess. Better still, you want to flip the record over and experience that journey all over again.

DRL’s opening track, Fen of Shadows, is a great preview and representation of the entire album. This song is not a ripper and requires listener patience. There are dynamics (gasp!), and a slow buildup before the band kicks into gear. The payoff is totally worth it, though, and careful attention to the two hard-panned guitarists is particularly rewarding. Nate and Scott don’t simply double up their guitar work; they play complementing rhythms in different registers that harmonize or provide texture to the buzzsaw riffs they play. Evan’s bass work is excellent, though I do wish it was slightly higher in the mix. Dustin’s drumming is creative and tastefully serves each song. The musicianship is wonderful throughout.

The standout tracks for me are: Sacred Soil, Fen of Shadows, Temple of the Son, and The Luminous Sky. Temple and Sky are a little more in line with traditional Skeletonwitch, as they are shorter and rip right along. Sacred Soil is a testament to what this band has become (I rank it in the top 5 Skeletonwitch songs ever), and provides a perfect closing argument to the case for why this album should be in your collection.

In summary, this is an exceptional record that you should definitely check out, and I fully recommend that you buy it on vinyl (my favorite variant is the clear with red splatter, but the blue w/sparkle retail variant is also awesome). If you are expecting Beyond the Permafrost Volume 2, you will be disappointed. However, you will be pleased if you are expecting a well-produced metal album that exhibits features such as dynamics, epicness, variety, aggression, harmony, melody, possible face-melting, and even “hope.” I’ll note that Adam’s lyrics are surprisingly positive in their messaging, which is a welcome reprieve from worn out tropes involving Satan or guys on horses with swords.

Rating: 92%

I'm gonna skip the customary introductory history lesson here and just say flat out why Devouring Radiant Light is so disappointing. It's not that it's a bad album, because on purely musical terms it's just fine, even pretty solidly good most of the time. No, the problem is that it's just... not Skeletonwitch anymore.

That sounds petty, and maybe it is, but the fact of the matter is that circa 2007, not a whole lot of bands sounded like Skeletonwitch. They were fucking furious, with an immaculate ear for melody and the ability to weave riffs that were zippy and crunchy, basing themselves in simplistic thrash while taking cues from all over the metal spectrum. Beyond the Permafrost was special, it was so varied and so loaded with hooks and so just... unlike anything else at the time. It was a weird beautiful album that didn't take kindly to the idea of "rules" and just became some weird haven for badassery in all of its forms. The band was a bunch of wildmen just throwing stuff at the wall and running with whatever stuck. But everything stuck, so they charged forward holding a wall stuck with hundreds of knives and powered forward like a jet powered Spartan phalanx.

Devouring Radiant Light is, well, not that. This new incarnation of the band is Serious. They focus on atmosphere and that dreaded fucking Maturity shit I hate so much. No guys, you rule at kicking ass with relentless ferocity, nobody heard "Within My Blood" and said "oh yeah this would be way better if they got a more generic vocalist and just made plain ass USBM".

It's stupid but that really is my biggest problem with this album. Check out tracks like "Fen of Shadows" or the title track, or most especially "The Vault". These tracks are just... normal. It's run of the mill USBM with none of the leftover fire the band used to carry. These tracks are loaded with atmosphere, which in normal circumstances would be a good thing, and it's honestly not even necessarily a bad thing here either, but it's just fucking lame okay? The band never shied away from their black metal influence, so why does this bother me so much? Well look at it this way, albums like Forever Abomination or the test run with this new vocalist, The Apothic Gloom, were controlled drifts. They were expert maneuvers, deftly weaving around a tight curve and exploring new territory without losing the course. The propulsive momentum never slowed down, the band was still powering forwards with so much kinetic energy that the skidding vehicle never once seemed like it was in danger of losing control. Those experiments worked, and they kicked just as much ass as the previous albums. Devouring Radiant Light, on the other hand, is a total oversteer that sees the band careening into the curb and tearing off the front bumper. These songs are content to sit in one place and meander around a handful of melodies instead of blasting forwards like the band is so good at doing. The little ricer that zipped circles around unsuspecting headbangers is instead whirling in a demented double helix of smoke and skid marks with no clear direction beyond "wherever this inevitable wreck takes us."

The new vocals are a bit of a problem too, despite also being totally fine on the surface. Really it all just once again comes down to the band toying with unfamiliar elements that just makes them so much less unique. Adam Clemans is a good vocalist, but he has a much more normal black metallish rasp than the firehose-of-gravel approach that Chance Garnette had. He was an instantly recognizable feature of the band, and his ousting (make no mistake, the original story of him bailing mid tour to deal with "personal issues" while the band heroically soldiered on as an instrumental group was hokey, he was booted out due to his alcoholism (which he has totally owned and since gotten help for) and the band spun it to paint themselves in a better light when I'm sure everybody would've understood the truth anyway) left a huge hole that they only sort of adequately filled. Clemans sounds fine, and he works for this new direction, but that just makes it all the sadder. It's not the same band fans fell in love with anymore, and maybe that's a dumb reason to dislike the album but come on. Why did we have to sacrifice Skeletonwitch to get another Nachtmystium? Exmortus sucks now and Vektor is too far up their own asses to consistently write great songs anymore, if we had to lose the last bastion of creative thrash from the late 2000s, I didn't want it to be because they just became another dime-a-dozen meloblack band.

There are, admittedly, things for old fans to like here though. "When Paradise Fades" and "Carnium Eternal" sound straight out of Forever Abomination, with their explosive energy pounding out some absolutely fucking vicious thrashy-blacky-melodeathy-fistfuckery. "The Luminous Sky" also goes hard as fuck and contains some of the best riffs the band ever wrote. This is what they should have been doing, if you ask me. This is that controlled drift I was talking about, this is the absolute chaos that was just reined in enough to have a solid foundation of meaty riffs and ferocious intensity. If you slapped these three songs onto The Apothic Gloom, you'd have an amazing experience that showcased a new direction without totally abandoning their previous strengths. Instead we have them coupled with "Temple of the Sun" and "Sacred Soil" and therefore stand out as the most blistering assaults on an otherwise comparatively tame album.

I hate to do the iconoclastic Boris thing here, but I just can't say in good faith that the musical decency makes up for the massive disappointment with the band all but abandoning what made them so great in the first place. If you're the type who gets pissy about the score, just pretend I gave this a 72%, because if I was totally professional and only judged this on musical merits, that's what it'd get. But I'm not professional. I do this shit for free as a hobby, I'm currently writing this while buck naked and waiting for a pizza to finish baking. The Serious Critic in me knows that there's nothing exactly wrong with Devouring Radiant Light on a surface level, but the Naked Hairy Hungry Guy in me knows that I don't want to listen to this anymore. In 2007, Skeletonwitch sounded like almost nobody, and now in 2018, Skeletonwitch sound like almost everybody.

I caught the band live a few years ago, opening for (I think?) Cannibal Corpse, and during the climactic outro of "Within My Blood", Chance addressed the crowd with "Thank you all so much for coming out! Drink some beer, smoke some weed, and most of all..." and then switched to his raspy snarl and belted out "EAT SOME FUCKING PUSSYYYYYY!" The band that wrote "The Vault" would never close with that. This does not eat some fucking pussy. I'm not even remotely surprised that this got a positive review on Pitchfork. Fuck Maturity.


Originally written for Lair of the Bastard