Skeletoon
Nemesis

Nemesis is what the Italian nerd metal band Skeletoon calls the fourth album in the short history of the band. The last one we reviewed at Hallowed was inspired by The Goonies and was given good ratings by our reviewer. This one looks more into the realm of science fiction when judging by its cover; some titles seem to corroborate that idea as well. The main question I have when taking on this album is whether or not these guys manage to improve upon the pretty great album I reviewed a year or so ago and if they still manage not to take themselves too seriously.

In style they haven’t really gone far, this album is somewhat darker, somewhat more dynamic, they have some distinct symphonic touches and the album is more powerful than the previous two I have reviewed. The sound is modern and fresh, good production. The style itself isn’t really breaking any new ground from the creative standpoint, but it is easy to like and they have good variation and tempo over the tracks, the album is never long or boring. The vocals are strong power metal vocals and it kind of sound like you want power metal to sound.

Really good album, I enjoy it, they have this happiness and enjoyable carelessness about the style – music you just have to like. I think the songs are strong all the way true and there are no weaknesses. Sure, you can argue that the lacking of originality in terms of style is a negative or a weakness, but when you do it as good as Skeletoon it doesn’t matter if it is innovative or original as it is better than most power metal out there. All the songs are good but perhaps the title track Nemesis is slightly better, and that the ending track Carry On ends the album in a really great way – I enjoy that they picked such a song to end instead of a boring long epic track like most of their countrymen do.

Do you like power metal? If the answer to that question is yes, then it is certain that you will find this album very likeable. It is a very enjoyable release and a small step forwards compared with the previous one, I can very much recommend it if you like the power metal genre. There are very few albums of this quality released in a year in this genre, so they have clearly made an album that might be among the highlights of 2020.

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