Album Review: The Skeats – The Skeats IV

“To find a better place and time, to gain a different frame of mind.”

The Skeats – The Skeats IV
December 2nd, 2023
Hard Rock / Alternative Rock / Punk Rock
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

St. John’s hard rock power trio The Skeats are back with their fourth full length album in as many years, and, unsurprisingly, they’ve released yet another banger of catchy, well written tunes that will no doubt get stuck in your earholes and refuse to leave for days afterwards. Having reviewed the band’s past three full length records I’m well acquainted with their style of music, and it’s been an interesting journey watching these guys mature as songwriters while also maintaining a surprising level of consistency throughout their discography.

This album is, to some degree, not quite as heavy as the band’s previous record, Dead Before Dawn, which made overtures to classic heavy metal moreso than the punk-orientation of their first two releases, In the Meantime and Bulletproof… by Midnight. Still the sounds here, while certainly accessible and decidedly “easy listening” for someone who might be more into pure metal or pure punk, pack a punch and provide a sensible amount of variety for listeners all across the spectrum of the modern rock landscape.

A song like “Torch”, which was released ahead of the album, has a Billy Talent vibe to it, a band that each of the three members have pointed to as an influence before. The following track, “Daze”, is a bit softer, and feels like it hearkens back to the world of 90’s radio rock, whereas “Black Sensations” has a shit-kicking metal n’ punk attitude that reminds me of a band like Kvelertak or Priestess at points (minus the blackened vocal stylings of the former).

This album easily has the best vocal performances from both James Keats and Joshua Organ yet. James, who is the band’s lead singer, has only gotten better at singing with age. I love the moments where his vocals are layered, both over his own as well as over Organ’s, creating a chorus effect that enhances the anthemic vibe that most of these tracks possess. Organ’s harsh screams have also improved, and he is much more present on this record than any of the band’s past materials. It’s cool to see both vocalists get their moments in the sun.

The riffs, provided once again by Keats on the guitar and Organ on the bass, are widely varied, catchy, heavily melodic, and well written. There are so many great moments where the band’s riffs and vocals harmonize, like on the track “Stay Home”, that just feel so damn good to listen to. On top of that the guitar soloing, unsurprisingly, is off the charts. Keats has always been a ripper on the axe ever since I’ve known him, and the solos on here are easily some of the best he’s ever written. I also love the brief moments of acoustic flourishes added to the soundscape, like on “Chasing Angels”.

Drummer Daniel Keats has also obviously improved as a drummer over the years. While the music of The Skeats has never been overly complicated and is rather simplistic from a compositional standpoint, Daniel’s skills have been honed over the past near-decade that the group has been active, and his drumming on this album feels more confident and intentional than at any point in the band’s history.

Where this album loses me a little bit is in its runtime. Clocking in at just under 56 minutes in length this thing is a long slog to get through. This isn’t to say that the album has any filler material or “bad songs” on it. There aren’t really any tracks on here that I don’t vibe with personally. However I think for a record in the hard rock genre that boasts a punk attitude the band would’ve been better off caching some of these songs and utilizing them for an EP or another album down the road. I’d much rather have a roughly 30-40 minute release featuring the strongest songs in a “get-in-get-out” format.

Still, some of my personal favourites on this record come right at the very end of the album’s runtime. The track “Twitch” is a catchy punk rock ditty that feels like it came right out of the 90’s or early 2000’s skate punk explosion. The track “One Makes Five” is easily my favourite song that The Skeats have ever written, featuring some straight up NWOTHM riffs that feel heavily inspired by bands like Van Halen, Ratt and Cauldron. “Chasing Angels” has some of the heaviest riffs on the record as well, featuring some surprise moments of syncopation. It’s rare that an album produces my favourite songs right at the end, but The Skeats IV did exactly that.

The Skeats have outdone themselves yet again with another excellent record that mixes elements of radio rock, punk and heavy metal together in an easy to digest, accessible, and yet vibrantly catchy and energetic mixture. While the runtime is a bit of a downer, the songs are at least quite maturely written and exemplary of a band that is only going to get better with more time and experience than the past nine years have already afforded them.

Final Verdict: 8.5/10
Great

Favourite Tracks:
“Torch”
“Black Sensations”
“Stay Home”
“Fifth Degree”
“Fine Wine”
“Twitch”
“One Makes Five”
“Chasing Angels”

For Fans of:
Billy Talent
Pennywise
Avenged Sevenfold
Van Halen

~ Akhenaten

An Interview with Allagash

As regular readers of Heavy NFLD will know I have been a huge fan of Allagash ever since their first self-titled album was released back in February of 2016. Their sound combines 80’s speed metal with the hard cutting edge of thrash all draped in the atmosphere of a cold, alien and Voivod-esque cosmos that the lyrics so vibrantly describe. As such it’s a pleasure to be able to discuss the music with band members Sumerian, Mooncrawler and Entity.

 

You guys have been active since 2015. How did you each meet the other members of the band? What led to the formation of Allagash?

Sumerian: Me, Mooncrawler and Hawk Emblem had been friends for a long time, and literally one day Hawk Emblem called me and said “We wanna start a band about aliens and call it Allagash”. I immediately agreed, and we wrote our entire first album in one day.

Entity: I was traveling through the space time continuum when I picked up a signal from a distant galaxy. I followed the distant signal through an unknown portal that led me to a brilliant glimmering light coming from a great pyramid. When I found the source of the signal I found it was the first album by Allagash. I decided to reside in the cold, harsh environment of their island and join the band.

Lyrically speaking, all of your songs revolve around aliens, alien abduction, science fiction (or in some cases, science fact) and conspiracies of other sorts. Where does the inspiration for this material come from?

Mooncrawler: I think I can speak for us all that the topics involving the unknown and the unexplained in some ways are just more interesting than everyday life in general. Growing up being a huge fan of sci fi and fantasy movies, Unsolved Mysteries, The X-Files, The Outer Limits, etc. I find my interest in all of this fun and easy to write about.

Do you genuinely believe in abduction stories like the namesake of the band? Or is it just window dressing for the music itself?

Entity: The events that took place in the Allagash county were real. When you canoe the St. John’s River you too will find yourself missing time and have strange scars. The fear will never leave. They haunt you. They follow you. Leaving you in a state of wild despair. They have been here with evil intent. The day they come don’t be surprised.

Mooncrawler: As strange as it sounds I am a huge believer that other intelligent beings are sharing the same existence as we are. I believe that there is so much more to this then what is going on in our little worlds. I do genuinely believe in a lot of the abduction stories that I have heard and read about and have developed a more realistic outlook on life because of it I think, haha. Originally Trev, Harry and myself were not going to let anyone know it was us on the first album. We talked about getting it out there somehow without ever acknowledging it was us, haha. Living in a small place like this and knowing the majority of people around kind of made short work of that idea.

Looking at the aliases on your Bandcamp page, they’re pretty creative. With names like Sol, Mooncrawler, Hawk Emblem, Entity and The Harvester, how did you guys decide on what names to use?

Entity:  I exist forever. I never die. Yet I never live. I am all around. I am energy. I’ve seen eons before our time. I see the dark future that lies before us. I am the Entity.

Mooncrawler: As our band grew each member came up with their own aliases. I pretty much pictured some kind of life form lurking around the moons surface for mine, haha.

Who are your biggest inspirations and influences? I hear a combination of 80’s speed metal as well as thrash in your music, but there’s elements of black metal that pop up occasionally too, especially in the more atmospheric tracks like “Dark Future”.

Sumerian: I guess when I first learned to play, the kind of modern metal “shred” type sound didn’t really exist. Black metal existed, but there was no internet, so it was very rare and I didn’t know much about it. I started with old Ozzy, Motley Crue, Iron Maiden, Guns ‘N’ Roses, even Led Zeppelin. Mostly rock music, really! I eventually graduated to black metal, and now it is one of my favorite genres.

Allagash seems to keep live performances to a minimum, only popping up once every now and again on the live circuit in St. John’s. Is this intentional to maintain anticipation for the next show or is it simply a matter of not having enough time to play regularly?

Entity: Less is more. When bands play too often people become bored and will skip their shows. When you’re scarce and you practice and hone in on your sound and you only play once or twice a year you draw crowds and leave an impact.

Mooncrawler: I think we are just taking things day by day. We definitely spend more time writing then we do jamming but it works. I can only speak for myself but in past experiences I find too many shows within a short time thins out the material for me. I like the idea of just playing every 3 or 4 months. That being said though, if any bands come to town or we are in the mood for a show we can get things together pretty quickly.

Do you have any plans to take the band on tour?

Sumerian: As of now we have no touring plans, but we are willing to consider any opportunities that come our way!

Back in 2016 you guys shared the stage with the legendary Voivod at The Rock House. When I think of a band to compare Allagash to Voivod is the first to come to mind. You also played alongside the legendary Anvil the same year. What has it been like to open for such highly regarded and influential bands?

Sumerian: It was an honour to play with such legends!! Voivod actually listened to all the local bands from here and chose us as the opener, we were humbled that we got the gig personally through them. Generally the promoter usually chooses the opener, which was how the Anvil show came about.

Entity: Playing with Voivod was huge. It was an honor. We also played with Cauldron. I’m a big fan of them. We’ve been lucky to play with these awesome bands.

On your previous EP, entitled Canadian Encounters, you had a guest guitar solo from Gian Pyres, formerly of Cradle of Filth. How did you get in touch with him and what led to him being on the release?

Mooncrawler: Gian introduced himself to us at the Voivod show. After finding out that he lived close by he quickly became a familiar face around the house. As far as him being on the EP goes it just kind of came about through hanging out really.

You guys have a new album coming out, entitled Cryptic Visions. Where does the title come from and what can listeners expect from this new album in comparison to your previous releases?

Mooncrawler: A lot of my lyrical content for this album started taking shape around the idea of the end of days sort of theme. Songs envisioning the world’s end and others about those who monitor us intervening started the idea for the title. The thought of us still being a primitive race sits well to me and easy to write about. I’m pretty sure we will destroy ourselves through nuclear dispute, haha.

Once Cryptic Visions is out in the wild for public consumption, what’s next on the horizon for Allagash?

Sumerian: We have a new deal with Raw Skull Records. They will be doing a European release of our first two albums on CD. Also we took part in a Gamma Ray tribute, that’s also coming out in Europe, on Burning Sun Records. There are also talks of a split EP with another Canadian band, but that is hush hush for now!!

Thanks for taking the time to speak to us here at Heavy NFLD!

~ Greg Ravengrave