Skullhog are a 3 piece death/sludge metal band, much in the vein of Autopsy, Mausoleum and the like. They are spawned from the ashes of oldschool death/grind band Bile (not to be confused with the cheesy industrial band of the same name). Here Skullhog serve up a brand new 7 song offering, covered in thick sludge and dripping with gore titled "The Evil Dead". "Risen To Bludgeon" kicks off this newest addition to the Redrum Records catalog and after a quick creepy intro the listener is slammed with brutal riffing and razor throated vocals. This is pure oldschool, short, sweet and to the point death metal with a nice helping of slow, creepy doom metal in the mix. The slow brooding riffs of "Savage Butchery" shake everything in the room while they emanate from the speakers. The band pushes and pulls the tempo in this song, going from a slow crawl to almost punk like verses and choruses that will have you leaving your seat and headbanging along. The morbid title track is served up next and I feel it sums up the entire offering best. Picture if you will, the death n' roll sound of Death Breath mixed with early Cathedral. Factor in the gut wrenching vocals, almost akin to "Scream Bloody Gore" era Chuck Schuldiner and mix in some really creepy samples and you got the recipe to the gory soundtrack that Skullhog dish out here. "Curse Of Dunwich" and "Deadstare" adhere to the gory gameplan and offer up more grimy death metal goodness, relentlessly punishing the listener with Skullhog's low tuned, buzzsaw brutality. "Cannibal Frenzy" is 49 seconds of frantic, evil fury that leads into this disks closing track, the almost 7 minute "Tusks Of Gore". Here Skullhog really gets to show off how slow and ominous they can be with their riffing. This track plods along with a super heavy stomp, the notes bleed from their instruments and slowly ooze from the speakers. Right around the 4 minute mark, the pace kicks up and we are bludgeoned with neck snapping rythms until Skullhog pull us back into the murky depths with more dirge like death-doom. With "The Evil Dead", Skullhog simultaneously satisfy the death metal fan, the doom fan who loves it low and slow and the gory horror fanatic that resides within us all. This is a very solid release and I look forward to what Skullhog has in store for us next. I'd love to see this band tour the united states, put Skullhog on a bill with Mausoleum, Mortician and Deceased and you'd have one hell of a show!!! You can find this release at www.redrumrecords.net along with lots of other great cd's, vinyl, t-shirts, patches and more. X-mas is right around the corner so help out an amazing underground distro/label and give the metalhead in your life the gift of some awesome music for the holidays.
