Non Stop Ruthless Crushing …..what???? I feel like there’s another word that was forgotten here. Anxiety? Diarrhea? Parental disappointment?
I keed, I keed What we have here is a re-release of a 2023 effort from this Texas act formed by Jason Ramsey (notably from Baton Rouge’s Suture, who released solid albums on Deepsend Records, Unmatched Brutality and Comatose Music from 2002-2013), and while it was released by a couple of labels on various formats back in 2023, Wormholdeath is giving it another go around.
Now, while I enjoy death metal of the blasting, brutal, technical, relentless kind, I feel death metal in its purest, most classic form is best enjoyed in a more mid-paced, lumbering delivery, and that is what Skulldozer does pretty effectively on their debut.
The immediate and easy comparison is Jungle Rot (and not just ‘cos of the similarly grizzled, grey-haired, veteran frontmen) as Skulldozer delivers a simple, effective 44 minutes of mid-paced, trundling death metal with the occasional blast here and there. Fans of Humiliation, Vore, Cianide, recent Mind Conflict, and other old-school death metal take note. Though Skulldozer never quite veers in the current, pure Bolt Thrower worshipping trend.
The production is OK, though it could be a little heftier, and Ramsey’s vocals don’t have a whole lot of power, but they are serviceable as the 10 tracks rumble and stomp around with enjoyable aplomb. The riffs are simple but get the message across with a simple, groove-laden ferocity. Tracks like “Thy Enemies Driven Before Me”, “Wolves Among the Sheeple”, “Bastard of Zeus” and “Bow to None” are simple, satisfying tracks that won’t change the world, but will get induce stank face and headbanging.
Some blasters like “Kingdom Ossarium” “Scum Beneath the Skin”, “Hatesworn Shitstorm” and “Skullfucking Domination” speed things up a tad, while the 6-plus minute “Deathblessed” is a slower, doomier number, as required by death metal album rules.
Not an album that I’ll really crave or revisit, but certainly a solid release of absolutely no-frills death metal.
