Review: Second Skin – BPM (2016)

Published:

Bernard enjoys the occasional growl

On the face of it this album isn’t my thing. For a start it features ‘growling’. Those that know me will appreciate that this is usually a no-no for me. However there is not too much of it and where it is used it suits the music well. It’s also a real metal album that doesn’t hide its thrash origins and is not therefore the sort of thing that I usually seek out.

Italian band Second Skin came together in 2012 after the demise of two other groups in the Death & Thrash metal genres. The sound of the new band should find plenty of fans as it mixes old school British metal with Metallica/Megadeth influences to create a clean sounding style where the emphasis is on the riff. Air guitarists everywhere will find much to admire as one riff after another explodes from the speakers. The vocals have that Euro Metal anthemic style that almost borders operatic at times and the afore-mentioned growling actually provides a nice counter-point to the standard vocals.

Opener ‘Futile Idols’ is proper old school metal and it’s a great song, which then launches into ‘Bone Marrow’. This second track is much more aggressive with loads of great guitar and vocals in the best Rob Halford tradition mixed with some Slipknot. Track 3 is ‘Slipping Through’ and this is very much a European metal song with a touch of Iron Maiden about it. ‘Slobbery Field’ has a cracking riff and reminded me of my Threshold albums in the way it sounds. ‘This Fuckin’ Night’ is more of the same featuring another 80’s sounding old school riff and it’s great. In a live setting Second Skin play a mixture of new material and covers and presumably this is the reason Blondie’s ‘Call Me’ appears. It’s not that it doesn’t work as a metal song but when their own songs are so strong, I think they have done themselves a bit of a disservice including it. ‘Bloody Mash’ soon makes up for this though and the album wraps up with ‘Oppressor’ which once again tips its hat to Judas Priest.

So it’s an album that shows great promise and of which the Band should be proud. They probably now need to get themselves some high-profile support slots to build their fan base and if they can do this, then expect their star to rise.

7/10

 

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