BLEEDER’S DIGEST: QUICKIE REVIEWS OF SKIN LIKE IRON AND XIBALBA

Skin Like Iron, Arrival (React!)
Descent Into Light, this band’s 2010 record for Six Feet Under, didn’t get the coverage it deserved on this site–and that’s my fault. Like so many good albums that come my way, it didn’t make an immediate impact. I’m making a conscious effort not to do the same thing with Arrival, an even-better follow-up that showcases Skin Like Iron’s coloring-outside-the-lines hardcore. The diversity offered on this short album acts like a headbutt to the ridiculous argument that hardcore is out of ideas. Melodic meets menace in ways far more inventive than what emo, screamo, or metalcore so predictably deliver. Skin Like Iron aren’t operating in some sort of scene bubble; “Consequences” even takes some cues from blackened death metal, from its post-apocalyptic lyrics to its breakneck tempo. After a grim intro, “Dim Horizon” punks the fuck out in a way that would turn a moshpit into a veritable piranha pit. This is a glorious, dark, and stunning release.

(4 out of 5 horns)

Xibalba, Madre Mia Gracias Por Los Dias (Southern Lord)
One strategy (see: Nails) Southern Lord has employed to great effect in recent years is the rapid reissue of a band’s recently released album. Expanded with additional tracks for this CD release, Madre Mia Gracias Por Los Dias perpetuates the label’s somewhat recent fascination with hardcore. Pomona, CA’s Xibalba’s sound is far less chaotic than that of Nails, though similarly steeped in a metallic tradition. Enough elements exist to make this an above-average album, yet in execution it’s just so damn middling. The topics appear painfully familiar to those who even casually keep up with hardcore (“Never Kneel”) and the standouts are rare (“Cold”, “Obituary”). I wanted to like this so much based on the handful of songs I’d heard before, but Xibalba clearly have some work to do if they expect to hold someone’s attention longer than a twenty-minute festival set.

(2 out of 5 horns)

-GS