Skeletonwitch brings together the old and sacred elements of true heavy metal, melts them down, and forges them into a brand new monolith of riffage. This new beast that has been created, while completely fresh and unique, is still able to give you that 1986 feeling (whether you were already there or are just feeling it for the first time). And The Witch’s live show is not to be missed – This is a fact known by the countless hessians, thrashers, stoners and punks alike that have bore witness to the vicious spectacle: a whirlwind of nipple-length hair, dual flying Vs, roaring Marshall stacks, and a black master of ceremonies as sick as Satan himself.
Fourteen albums in (not counting the cover-platter “Leaders…Part 2”) three decades and NAPALM DEATH remain the leaders of the grindcore / death metal world, once again showing the upstarts how it’s done. Not content to simply wear the term “legendary,” the band has once again raised the bar on what it takes to remain at the top of the heap with its highly anticipated new album “Utilitarian”. While their past roster reads like a who’s who of extreme metal royalty, including Lee Dorrian (Cathedral), Bill Steer (Carcass), Justin Broadrick (Godflesh) and the late Jesse Pintado (Terrorizer) to name a few, it’s the current line-up of Mark “Barney” Greenway (vocals), Mitch Harris (guitars), Shane Embury (bass), and Danny Herrera (drums) that has kept the legend alive and seething. “Utilitarian” is the follow-up to the band’s much lauded 2009 album, “Time Waits For No Slave”, and sees the quartet return in expected raw and uncompromising fashion.
The fine folks at Decibel magazine knew exactly what they were talking about when they hailed HOLY GRAIL as “the most exciting prefix-free metal band to come out of L.A. in the last two decades.” The esteemed editors at UK’s Metal Hammer nominated the gentlemen of the Grail for the magazine’s “Best New Band” award at their annual Golden Gods ceremony before Holy Grail even had an album out. But a certain tall, handsome genius over at Thrasher summed it up best when he proclaimed, “Holy Grail are the reason that heavy metal will never die.”
