Skumstrike
Deadly Intrusions

Chains and blades in a lightless alley, broken glass scattered amongst the filth, weakly reflecting the dull glow of a pale moon that struggles to peer through the smog poisoned night sky. Before an audience of rats who watch, chattering, waiting for blood, between the split bags of rotting waste, a tableaux of senseless violence will be performed, a desperate, discordant ballet of brutality.

That first paragraph is quoted from the press material, but a pretty good illustration of the Canadian band Skumstrike who are releasing their debut album Deadly Intrusions. A brutal piece of thrashy black metal with screamy vocals, lightning quick riffing and a sense of raw brutality. Something that would be great on cassette, as it sounds like a throwback to when this genre was evolving, with the raw and brutal music that arrived back then.

It is a barrage of eleven tracks, gruff and raw sounding tracks. Finally, something that is supposed to be brutal that actually sounds brutal. Usually, extreme metal bands are ridiculous are just bland, this is extreme metal more as it should be. Too bad that they don’t combine it with something that also sounds fresh, something stylistically innovative. But I guess you cannot have everything as you want it to be, and eventually you must be pleased to listen to brutal metal that is actually brutal as that is less common than you might think. Still, it doesn’t mean that Deadly Intrusions is a memorable album.

It is a fine throwback album for the fans of the extreme metal style, especially those liking thrashy black metal. It is energetic, brutal and powerful, and fairly enjoyable to listen to. I do however, doubt that I will return to this album now that I have written this text, it is good, but it is nowhere near greatness. To be great you don’t just need to write and perform good songs, you need to make something outstanding as well – and outstanding is not something we get from Skumstrike.

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