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Skinlab

Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded

(c) Magic Arts Publishing 1997

(p) Century Media Records 1997

Review by Neil StLaurent


I had never actually even heard about Skinlab until I ordered this album. Judging from the name of the band and the art on the CD I was thinking this would be just another death metal release. Generally it instead fell somewhere in the realm of music between Pantera and Cianide: a Death feel, while retaining a strong Power Metal guitar style.

The album is never too fast, but if you listen to extreme metal long enough even Slayer begins to sound slow. Skinlab has a very rich sound, something bands of the extreme genres generally lose in their cacophonous assaults. The music has variation, pulsing leads and a total absence of monotony. After a little bit of listening I can start to pick apart the layers of the music, how they mix and transfer status back and forth - more of a technical album than I really expected; it is strongly evident that the band curbed technicality at times in order to get a stronger emotional feel from the album.

It does take a little while to adjust to the sound of Skinlab, but once you can find the value in it, then you'll begin to enjoy it more.

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