Huffing deeply of the half-burnt decay piling just beyond the gates of Hell this third rite from Lille, France-based death metal trio SKELETHAL inhales choice ancient death as its primally instinctive directive, consuming all manner of auld rot before coughing up hallucinatory dread as thier main byproduct. The deep-red sputum of ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘ acts as a better conglomerated heap, some additional definition and further adventuring within these folks’ ever-shifting approach to ‘old school’ aggression. Through a series of volatile escalations they present a style that is proudly backwards-facing toward early 90’s styled death metal characterized by its fire-whipping hand and wandering ear yet continues to stretch admirably away from the Swedish death metal obsession that’d originally inspired their work. Without losing sight of the hard-assed classicism inherent to their body of work this album expands horizons as often as it reinforces its own borders, making for an intensely radiant wanderer that never strays all that far from the furnace.

Skelethal formed circa 2012 and stuck with a pretty consistent line-up until they’d realized their debut full-length album ‘Of the Depths…‘ (2017) as an embodiment of the Swedish death metal plus sound honed up ’til that point. I’d written about a number of their smaller works throughout that era and likened their approach to that of (earlier) Necrowretch at the time where it was clear what’d inspired their work, and they’d not reinvented it, but the result was an especially fine example of said tradition right now to the artwork on the cover. At some point beyond that first album drummer, bassist and occasional vocalist Jon Whiplash left (see: Sépulcre) left the band and vocalist/guitarist Gui Haunting would continue on with lead guitarist Lucas Sceller (Mortal Scepter) and various drummers beyond that point. I’ve more-or-less given finer details of this in review of the band’s underrated second album ‘Unveiling the Threshold‘ (2020) where I’d made a point throughout the review that musicians who cut their teeth on thrash metal seem to best understand the foundations of late 80’s/early 90’s death metal and the high performative standard of the time.

While we could accuse these folks of existing on a nostalgic plane in service to the old ways that does not dissolve the greater accomplishment of getting it exactly right in terms of the general groove, thrashing attack and attitude necessary for proper death metal. The way I saw it back in 2020 was Skelethal had nailed a personalized sound in most respects but their points of style were all over the map, avoiding worship while retaining a sometimes unfocused directive. The challenge posited by, and ultimately the minor accomplishment of, this third album is melding those functions into something singular. Per my own taste and expectations beyond previous work ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘ is decidedly different via some changes to its production values, leaning toward the raw and ragged side of bands like Outre-Tombe without losing all of the power the previous album’d been given by Earhammer Studios.

With previous drummer Lorenzo Vissol now focused on Schizophrenia and other projects Skelethal have opted for a session drummer for ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘ choosing former Necrowretch and Bloody Sign drummer Ilmar Uibo who brings a unique touch to everything he does. His style on this record seems to calls for something initially punkish yet Floridian to start but later he brings some Angelcorpse level whip-cracking (see: “Mesmerizing Flies at the Doors of Death”) for emphasis. But to start the path is patient and punishing as we step into “Spectrum of Morbidity” already taking some unexpected turns, first stepping from the two minute instrumental opener “Creation” and its light Finndeath reach into a crusted over ‘Blessed are the Sick‘ built groove to start eventually giving into the Eldritch dimension as the song develops not unlike later Cadaveric Fumes had in terms of its mid-song interruptus and heavy rock solo as the band walks us quickly up to the present day version of their gig with this song.

My first thought was in admiration of well-telegraphed classic death metal sounds given a loosened tension without losing the swinging groove of it all, the first three or so pieces on this seven song record show some level of patience and atmosphere developed beyond their previous album without any of the anxious, hurried grinding-through found on previous releases. Otherwise most of Side A is defined by its punkish, fast-kicking songs that once again step between Scandinavian thrashing n’ rolling attack and some blasted-out slow burning interjections. It’ll start to feel like the album has crested this initial wave with “Eyes Sewn Mouth Full” but Side B still has plenty of room to exaggerate and expand upon the grinding and dooming step of ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘. While “Upon the Immemorial Ziggurat” takes us to a promising headspace within its opening moments, or, the first ~35 seconds it marks the start of the end for the album which proposes a fusion of the core inspiration of the band presented in quick-changing movements which might sound like Immolation or the first Grave Miasma record one moment and a Dismember clone the next and while none of those are bad milestones to hit it took a couple rides through the song to find any focus within its ADHD-whirring flits from point to point, style to style… granted all of it being death metal.

The bulk, the flex of the meat and the finest pay-out for taking the full spin comes within the last two pieces on ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘ and I’ve nothing but enthusiasm for the peak of the riff-obsessed action via “Fatal Abstraction“, a swaggering and slaughtering piece which quickly makes up for the scattershot and head-wrenching movement of the previous. If I were to isolate just one example of atmospheric death-infused song structure and the general murderous pace achieved on this album this’d be the exemplar, energizing choice which also has its break into spaced-out drift and while a song like “Mesmerizing Flies at the Doors of Death” makes similar work of it this is where the album’d come together and made sense for my own taste. I’d also point out that while I’d connected with their previous album more overall “Fatal Abstraction” is easily one of their best songs to date and I’d only wished Skelethal‘d traded the gloom and the battery of this song more often than the punkish grinding of Side A.

Otherwise we’ve got the title track, a mostly instrumental closer which explores new textures and tones throughout its ~13 minute sprawl. For the band to continue showing us new shit rather than press on through to the end repeating themselves is impressive as those first six minutes fire off and then break into space ambiance for a couple of minutes but the song keeps on going… resembling something likely Blood Incantation inspired in its tour of classic inspiration almost to the point of it reading more like medley, a death metal jam through the bands oeuvre rather than the dark and darker-still grand finale expected. I’m still not sure how to feel about this final third of the album being both instrumental and a little bit ‘all over the place’ but on the first first ~five or so listens I’d not been so focused on the details of the record so much as how well it flowed through its forty minute roll.

When it came time to test the lasting effect of this record, to dig through the guts and posit the future resonance of ‘Within Corrosive Continuums‘, I’d felt Skelethal‘s third album had quasi-dialed back its intensity for the sake of an easier ride through their work, bringing a darkened and increasingly atmosphere sound alongside bluntly punkish obstinance which is still clearly intended as a classic ‘underground’ death metal statement but also one that reads as tempered, tightened in stride but not yet perfection in terms of conveying its ambitions. I see where they are going with it on this record and still found this to be a natural, sometimes unexpected step beyond the previous album but everything about this record (especially the long instrumental endpoint) speaks to the need for addendum, elaboration and reinforcement of its up-front stacked ideas. Also hey, they’ve managed yet another killer riff-heavy ride of a death metal album that is easy to enjoy otherwise. A high recommendation.

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