Alloy

Skepticism uses little pieces on 'Alloy' that could be conceived as anthems: remembered for being dreary and used to the march of a darkened procession. The band still tips the scales and takes you out of the dreams of normality. This isn't measured in scoops like a lot of bands in extreme metal are, wanting to grab chunks and fling those chunks for shocking effects, but instead Skepticism measures their music pinch by pinch. A renowned chef that would never make a quick and speedy special television broadcast, but you have to admit when the meal, no the feast, is made by them, it is something that treats your taste buds to delicacies that are either mouth watering or mouth numbing; however you want to perceive it as a conditioning experience or served as an instant pleasure to your already tainted senses.

The long-faced band is back to shifts and slight alterations among their music with this newest full length recording. The last album you can imagine went for multiple different factions and ideas and not all of them went entirely together, or more precisely not all of them went together in the right order of things makes the real difference; the band attempted to balance it all, with only so many limbs to balance with. This has some shorter, manageable songs for Skepticism and I think comes off to fit the band better at this point specifically compared to the last full length as well. This includes some more rememberable guitar lines, the first track even uses palm mutes and higher placed leads. Otherwise they might carry the song writing with strums, but the delivery doesn't just use droning notes. The guitars have a particular tone to them, one that seems to walk casually with their head down while rummaging over distorted escalating thoughts. And the clean guitar is still mixed in with the music and it pertains just as much somberness as the rest of the glum juxtaposition.

Yes, the snare sound is better suited here than the last, where is was higher toned on varying tracks and conceivably there to be heard better. But this has it audible though most importantly without lessening its harder hitting quality, and it is of course dripping with a saturation of reverb to make it just that much more prominent. I can't get enough of it. And since the music isn't raging forward, it is extra loud when he does hit it one ritualistic moment at a time, like a spooky chiming grandfather clock just hit midnight and we're all in for it now. The vocals are still fittingly growled though less of a visitant than some of the last recordings in comparison to the other instruments. One of the middling tracks uses a melancholic sounding exasperation that is almost raspy, almost strained and is ultimately hard to describe giving it that much more ambiguousness. For the most part he seems to use more "umph" when applying them, doing so with some slight wailing and aren't just a monotone projection like you might think.

The organs still return as if The Phantom of the Opera took over their keyboardist's body and mind, or just the elderly lady who's mastered the Hammond at your local Sunday church put on a dark mask and persona for one of her grandsons. In all seriousness, I think they sound better when playing at a slower pace. For example, the pick up parts with the organ on their own during 'Antimony' can come off as warm-ups and take you sort of out of the atmosphere. Like, for instance, when you witness a drummer go through each of his drums before a show, almost like testing the waters in a way instead of treading the waters. At least to me, organs are a subtle instrument and come off as more mysterious or frightening when they are lessened; "less is more" is a well-known line that film-maker John Carpenter says, if that makes sense. Though when the band plays these live, I can only imagine that would change with the shear monolithic magnitude of the volume, leading to perfect audio-visual sensations, and then the vast and far stretching sound would put the cherry on top of a bittersweet cake. And I'd be ready to indulge in the whole thing. This includes other varying symphonic sounds and theatrical gizmos and gadgets that their only job is to pulsate your ear drums; rising up and down, enticing emotional reactions through traditional strings and other shadowy devices.

I can't call or proclaim this to be 'The ultimate return of the century' because some portions are fairly simplistic, even if measured out. Though overall the band persists still above and still beyond the line of normality. Combining the culmination of their past efforts, I feel the musicians aren't cut and dry at this point neither, with the five year gap between full lengths giving them enough time to produce another album with some more stand out features and additions. Some older fans might take a few spins to get used to some of their newer patterns, lines and shades, though it seems more approachable as an album to someone who isn't accustomed to ultra-slow doom I think while still not completely sacrificing one thing for the other. Skepticism could be a reviewer's/recommender's nightmare or even savior, with having to describe all of the different factions and additions that they serve up. Though as a band they consistently experiment, trying to slightly dodge where you'll think they'll end up while still maintaining their past motivations and ideologies. And I have to say that they still do that here. They push on as a group and have created a recreational activity that needs your full attention like any other hobby. For instance, having both ears interacting separately to two different mediums—e.g.: television and Skepticism—would do them a disservice. I guess we're so used to boring tour guides that we compensate by sneaking off on our own path. Yet when we find someone who is dedicated, their delivery seems to come out as second nature. They might stimulate our senses with luring stories that you'd never hear elsewhere: of how Van Gogh considered just clipping his finger nails instead of a more useful appendage, how the irony of the color-blind 'Erik the Der's name initially being read by a dyslexic, and then the most secret of all that William Wallace was really known as "Wall-Ace," the best mason this side of Scotland has ever seen; with his main intention to let you to know that the freedom's in the foundation not underneath barren kilts or in unsugared English tea. And then some guides are so good that they can gesture and you might gravitate to their movements. Are they cocksure? Nah, in the end they bend and fold into different shapes and sizes from something that can be called their own set of tools. A band that knows how to use these tools and bring out hidden secrets that a normal eye would look at and miss. Yet only the patient and detail oriented would find all of its underlying mystery, and you still may never know the process that they do it in.