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With older metal trends making a comeback such as with the wave of thrash metal that is currently upon us; it is nice to see some other older and volatile metal, namely old school death metal make a strong push for your inner ear. Enter Skeletal Remains and their debut Beyond The Flesh; a potent mix of guitar solos, a very powerful lead singer and the most integral part of OSDM, riffs.

This California quartet pays major homage to my personal favorite death metal album; Pestilence’s Consuming Impulse as vocalist Chris Monroy channels his inner Martin Van Drunen, bellowing out some other worldly dry rasps.


The music itself seems to be an amalgamation of both U.S. and European school of thought as their influence also seems to include Kreator and Obituary as seen on “Traumatic Existence.” Equal parts “Under The Guillotine” and “Slowly We Rot,” this slow crawl pounds you with riffs from start to finish.

“Desolate Isolation” feels like something of a combination of “Dehydrated” and “Chronic Infection” seeing the vocals and the guitars mesh together much like the Dutch forefathers they emulate so well. The guitar solo in the middle adds a bit of flair and is far from the only guitar pyrotechnics contained within, as Monroy doubles up on that duty along with fellow axeman Adrian Obrego and the solos punctuate the riffs in a way held true over 20 years ago in Stockholm.

This is yet another very impressive debut for a band in 2012. Along with fellow Americans Horrendous, the old school death metal revival is continuing to gain strength at a rapid pace. If you even remotely enjoy the obsession that is old school death metal, you owe it to yourself to hear this album, rinse, repeat.

(released November 13, 2012 on FDA Rekotz)

Disclosure: A review copy was provided by the publisher. For more information, please see our Ethics Policy.