Behold the Pentagram on bass and vocals; Sacrifice the Virgin on guitar and Haunting the Beyond on drums. Yes, this infernal trio from Sweden is what forms SKELETAL SPECTRE. Razorback Records seems to be releasing quite a few bands that fit the Death / Doom Metal moniker one way or another. This also fits in this case a lot. Obviously a reference is CELTIC FROST, but also BLACK SABBATH and some AUTOPSY come to mind. The production is really heavy, the guitars sounds like tons of layers recorded, and even used in a second plane with subtle melody enhancers. A great drum sound even makes this to feel heavier, whilst the deep, but at the same time clean Tom Warrior-esque vocals do nothing but putting a smile in my face. Also it is not hard to notice a rock and roll MOTÖRHEAD feeling to the whole album in general. With song titles as ‘The Decapitress’ and ‘Burial Ground’ they are touching more occult Death Metal topics, which in this case go along with the doomed music quite well. What happens most of the time with similar bands is that the style is maybe a bit limited by the tempo speed, and can sometimes tend up to sound similar… and can easily fall into boredom. I for once, cannot get that much of a same label band like HOODED MENACE which plays a very similar style, no matter how hard I try. With SKELETAL SPECTRE I find myself a bit falling into that void of despair, as some songs sound alike. Whereas a band like old AUTOPSY was wise enough to use speed in their mostly doomy sound, this Swedes seem to have a tachometer where they cannot go further in speed… and I felt a few places could have graced for a faster tempo. For a deep Death / Doom Metal experience, this is a good album. There are quite some memorable moments like in ‘Eerie Bones’ and the length of this album is just enough not to enter the deep slumber of eternal death. www.myspace.com/skeletalspectre, www.razorbackrecords.com