Breathing the Fire

Like 2007’s *Beyond the Permafrost*, 2009’s *Breathing the Fire* reveals a fierce quintet of hell-raising Hessians who unapologetically refuse to adhere to aping a bygone micro-genre of heavy metal’s past. Where stalwart students of New Wave Of British Heavy Metal don’t tolerate distortion or elements of thrash, Skeletonwitch refreshingly follow no rules allowing for an album that sounds as naturally and believably evil as Linda Blair’s possession in *The Exorcist*. From the opening assault of “Submit to the Suffering” it’s evident that touring has tightened the band’s lock on their changes while singer Chance Garnette has noticeably more control of his fiendish inflections — hitting high screams one second and guttural growls the next — while many of his contemporaries can only approximate Cookie Monster on the lower vocal register, Garnette sounds authentically bedeviled here. “The Despoiler of Human Life” actually flirts with melodic guitars in the beginning before blasting triumphant, fist-pumping riffs that hinge slightly on *Kill ‘Em All*-era Metallica. Should you seek a truly brutal eardrum beating, look no further than the aptly titled “Crushed Beyond Dust.”

All that's really changed between Skeletonwitch's debut for the Prosthetic label, 2007's Beyond the Permafrost, and their 2009 follow-up is that they're -- if possible -- even more themselves.

I suppose "retro" is in the eye of the beholder, but Ohio metal warlords SKELETONWITCH have never seemed like a regurgitated history lesson in denim and bullet belts to me. They get lumped in with the likes of TOXIC HOLOCAUST and MUNICIPAL WASTE primarily because their metal is so elemental, I guess...