Filth. It's the perfect summation of this hellacious EP from Montreal's Skumstrike. Prepare for the crustiest of Necro 'N' Chill sessions this Valentine's Day. Execution Void is a fine soundtrack to Slamdance around trash fires all night long.
Skumstrike spew a rapid-fire, punk frenzy in this one. It's a seamless hybrid of D-beat and black metal, with all the moshing breakdowns to make a modern-day classic. Remove thy flip cap and put down the pizza. Skumstrike make Municipal Waste sound like Cindarella.
Execution Void strikes with the tenacity of a pack of hammerhead sharks. An unrelenting thrashing of the grandest scale awaits all ye who dare to listen to this nasty, five-track EP. It's no exaggeration to say this might leave the listener short of breath, and checking to make sure all their teeth are still intact.
Songs like "The Deserter" bares a feral similarity to Exodus' Bonded By Blood. But, this EP avoids the throwback worship so prevalent in today's cultural consciousness. Nostalgia is a hell of a drug, but these maniacs are high on their own aggression. The youthful craze of hardcore punk is damn near impossible to replicate, but it coats the entirety of Execution Void like a grimy layer of sweat. The only way this record could sound better is to witness it live, ideally, in the center of a circle pit.
The bass lines clang with a constant steely menace, akin to Dan Lilker's low-end savagery in Brutal Truth and Nuclear Assault. The raspy vocals land on the black metal spectrum. They howl like a hideous beast whose cries echo out from the bottomless pit. "Thousand Eyes" bears the strongest black metal influence. The main riff in this track sounds a lot like Emperor's "I Am The Black Wizard" set to a bombastic D-beat.
On a contemporary note, this EP reminded me a lot of Devil Master, another one of the bands in this new wave of grim street punk.
Execution Void is a short affair but left this reviewer eager to do the Toxic Waltz with no regard for personal injury. Skumstrike inject a reinvigorating dose of chaos and carnage into extreme metal with their latest. I could practically feel the steam rise from their foaming mouths.
Execution Void is available via Caligari Records on February 14.
Score: 8/10
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