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

Album Review: The Skeats – Dead Before Dawn

“I see you working all day, I cash it all in today. At once we’re locked in today, and you’re not worth the net pay.”

The Skeats – Dead Before Dawn
January 1st, 2022
Hard Rock
Independently Released
St. John’s, Newfoundland

The Skeats have certainly changed a fair bit over the course of their career. The band initially started out as a 70’s and 80’s punk-influenced group until a lineup change saw them lose their bassist and frontman Nicholas Saunders, leading to a significant change in sound when guitarist James Keats took over the role of singer and the band recruited Joshua Organ on bass. Now the band is on album number three, Dead Before Dawn, and those old punk rock influences are seemingly completely absent. The group is now firmly planted in the genre of hard rock, with some moments that veer into the territory of heavy metal as well as grunge and even prog rock.

Dead Before Dawn opens with an interesting intro track on “Zero Hour”, which has a very grunge-heavy vibe to the soft guitars and sublime bass. Complimenting these instruments we get some neat little runs on the piano, a first for The Skeats. It’s a small touch but makes the whole song pop a bit more than it otherwise might were those little additions absent.

From there we head into the title track, which bombastically explodes with some awesome drumming from percussionist Daniel Keats and solid guitar riffs from James. Surprisingly, the opening vocal lines here come from Organ, who also did backup vocals on the band’s previous record. He has a real gritty and powerful scream that reminds me of the backing vocals from Ian D’Sa of Billy Talent, a band that has no doubt greatly influenced the sound of The Skeats on this record as well as past efforts by them. He belts out some of the lines during the verse before James takes over in the chorus, and it makes for a nice juxtaposition going through each part of the song.

“Dead Before Dawn” does a good job at setting up the listener for what to expect on the rest of the album. While the band isn’t exactly attempting anything new for the hard rock genre, they know what they’re doing and they’re doing what they love. This album is full of mostly simple but very well written rock tunes, such as “Lights”, “Best Days (In Disguise)”, and “Wake Up (Don’t Hate Me)”. These all sound kind of ‘dated’ in a way, but that doesn’t mean they’re necessarily bad. More than anything they sound like the kind of hard rock music that would have played on the radio back in the early to mid-2000’s, but considering where these guys’ influences lie, that’s not all that surprising.

There’s no trouble telling what bands have influenced the band’s sound. The aforementioned Billy Talent may in fact have had the most influence on these guys with this new album. Riffs like the opener on “Best Days (In Disguise)” sound so heavily influenced by Billy Talent that I could easily see it just being a rework of an existing riff by that band. Besides that the band is also very influenced by Avenged Sevenfold, something which I think surfaces on the intro track “Zero Hour” with the addition of pianos to the instrumental as well as the melancholy atmosphere and unconventional chord progression of “Once or Twice”. There’s also the Iron Maiden-esque speed metal cut “Pale Horse” near the end of the record’s tracklist that stands out a lot for me. I also think it’s worth mentioning that “Poor Man’s Toll”, which is probably my favourite cut on this album, sounds a hell of a lot like a certain Primus song, at least in the groove.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of variety on this album. While some songs like “Once or Twice” are quieter and not as bombastic as other cuts, other tracks like “Dead Before Dawn” and “Lights” are very loud, in-your-face barn burners. Meanwhile there are some minor progressive rock tendencies on certain tracks, especially on “Once or Twice” and “The Fight”, but also on “Poor Man’s Toll”. There’s a lot of different sounds going on on this record, but the band still manages to make every song sound cohesive, and like it’s the same band playing them. I never feel like this is one band trying to sound like another band. They take the previously mentioned influences and make them their own.

I do feel like the album sags a bit in the middle, with cuts like “Place and Time” and “Once or Twice” that, while not necessarily bad songs, do tend do drag on a little long for my liking. Some of these tracks near six minutes in length, if not completely eclipsing the six minute mark, which isn’t what I really want when I’m listening to music of this nature. I’m used to hearing long songs thanks to genres like progressive rock and atmospheric black metal, but I feel like some of the songs on this record could have benefited from having the fat trimmed just a little.

Performance-wise though these guys are absolutely on top of their game, at least instrumentally speaking. The guitars are tight and precise, and there’s no doubting James’ skill at the axe, especially when almost every song on here has a ripping guitar solo that adds a lot of emotion to each cut. Daniel isn’t exactly doing anything mindblowing since hard rock drum work does’t typically require a lot of intense stuff like blast beats or long double bass passages, but I often say it can be harder to play simple drum beats because when you muck it up, everyone notices. On this album he is a solid backbone to the band, and he adds his own flavour to things when given the opportunity. I noticed a lot of snare rolls with more emphasis on the threes, which I feel isn’t a trope you hear much these days. He also does a solid job with the double bass triplets on “Poor Man’s Toll”. Meanwhile Organ has a ton of stuff going on in the background here. I’d go so far as to say his bass work may be the soul of this band’s work because almost every song has some seriously gnarly fills going on behind everything else.

While hard rock isn’t typically my genre of choice, I can definitely appreciate what The Skeats are going for here. Out of their entire discography thus far, this is by far their best record yet. I enjoyed this one more than Bulletproof… by Midnight, and a hell of a lot more than In the Meantime. If the band continues down this path with this same lineup and same vision for their sound then I think they’re going to continue to drop great albums that will likely end up getting them even more attention than they’ve already cultivated.

Final Verdict: 8/10
Great

Favourite Tracks:
“Dead Before Dawn”
“Lights”
“Poor Man’s Toll”
“The Fight”
“Pale Horse”

~ Akhenaten

Album Review: The Skeats – Bulletproof… by Midnight

The Skeats – Bulletproof… by Midnight
September 17th, 2019
Hard Rock / Punk Rock
Independently Released
Glovertown / St. John’s, Newfoundland

On their second album, Bulletproof… By Midnight, The Skeats bring an assortment of solid, straightforward hard rock tunes, while honing in on their strengths and making changes to develop their sound. Since their debut album, In the Meantime, was released in 2017, the band has been steadily gaining a significant amount of attention in the local St. John’s heavy music scene, even going as far as winning the Battle Of The Bands 2019 contest held by local venue Treble Lounge back in August.

Shortly after their victory, Bulletproof… By Midnight was released in September.
It’s clear that the band has been tweaking their songwriting since their debut as there’s a noticeable difference between the two.

In the Meantime saw the band playing hard rock with a pop punk attitude, a fun album with a bright sound with an emphasis on catchy riffs and angst fueled lyrics. On Bulletproof…, the band is still rooted in hard rock but moving away from the pop punk approach with much more of a metal influence. The riffs this time around feel more thought out then having a constant hook throughout most of the songs, saving the tasty riffs for just the right moments and having more of a focus on rhythm when there’s vocals, having more of a balance in terms of sharing the spotlight.

Speaking of vocals this is where the shift to a more metal oriented approach may have helped the band the most overall. Not to say the vocals are bad on In the Meantime, but the snarky, pop punk-esque delivery could sometimes feel out of place. Here however with the more serious vocal delivery with the angst giving way to anger the vocals as a whole work a lot better. This evolution has the band sounding more focused, with a more refined, mature sound to their song writing.

The album starts with “Seethe”, which sets the tone of the album with it’s catchy power-chord riffs, big sing-along chorus, and shredding solos. The punk influence hasn’t left their sound either, tracks like “R.U.N.” and “Box Set of Dreams” having a serious skate punk flair that helps to keep the album interesting and from totally abandoning the sound of their previous work and instead build on it.

Aside from some tracks having more of a punk attitude there aren’t any big surprises or left turns on the album, but that’s one of its biggest strengths. The Skeats found a formula for writing heavy hard rock that trims the fat and delivers just what you want, track after track. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, and these tracks show no cracks.

Also, the strong production work really helps the album hit its stride. Everything sounds big and bold, with a nice thick sounding low end and a clear and crisp highs which really helps the solos stand out.

On their sophomore effort The Skeats take the strengths of their previous work and made the adjustments needed to take it to the next level. With a new album already in the works, it’s clear that The Skeats aren’t just bulletproof, they’re untouchable.

Final Verdict: 7/10

Favourite Tracks:
“Seethe”
“Box Set of Dreams”
“R.U.N.”

For Fans Of:
Crush 40
Rancid

~ James Titford

The Skeats Release New Single “Syndrome”, Announce Album Title

The Skeats are poised for the release of their new album next week, the sophomore followup to 2017’s In the Meantime, which we now know is entitled Bulletproof… by Midnight, a title which seems to be inspired by classic Megadeth albums of yore such as Killing is My Business… and Business is Good and Peace Sells… but Who’s Buying?

This morning the band released their third single off of the upcoming record, entitled “Syndrome”, which is now available on all streaming platforms. “Syndrome” follows behind “R.U.N.” and “Breeze”, the first two singles released ahead of Bulletproof.

Check out the new track through our YouTube embed down below and keep an eye out for the new album, which drops on September 14th. The night of the 14th, The Skeats will be playing an album release show at Treble Lounge alongside hard rockers Disposition and hardcore punks Dead Inner Youth.

The Skeats were also featured in this week’s edition of the Newfoundland Herald, available now. Photo credit: James Keats

~ Akhenaten

The Skeats Take Home the Treble Lounge Battle of the Bands

Hard punk rockers The Skeats have no doubt become one of the biggest heavy bands on our humble island in a relatively short period of time. Having released one full length album, In the Meantime, back in 2017 and soon to follow it up with a sophomore release that we can likely expect to hear before the end of 2019, they are showing no signs of slowing down. The group toured through eastern Canada in 2018 and according to frontman James Keats they’re looking forward to getting out on the road again as soon as possible.

That being said the group saw fit to enter this year’s annual Battle of the Bands event held at Treble Lounge. In past years when Treble was under different ownership as Valhalla Tavern, and then The Levee before that, the Battle of the Bands has been a mainstay in the musical underground of St. John’s.

This year there were three rounds of competition which resulted in this past Saturday’s final showdown between Pearl, Dendron, Dennis Balsom Trio, The Skeats, Florizel and Disposition. The Skeats took home the gold in the competition, winning the $1800 prize pooled from the door money, as well as recording time at Comfort Cove Sound Studio.

Florizel came in at second place while progressive metallers Dendron brought up the rear in third. If you’re looking to whet your whistle on more Skeats material before the new album drops, check out their newest single “Breeze” through the Bandcamp embed below.

~ Akhenaten

The Skeats Release New Single “Breeze”

The Skeats have been ratcheting up for the release of their sophomore album, the followup to 2017’s In the Meantime, with tons of self-promotion via their various social media accounts. Earlier this year the hard punk rockers released the first single from the forthcoming record, entitled “R.U.N.” to warm reception from the band’s fanbase.

Now the group has released the second single from the record, entitled “Breeze”, which came out on August 2nd. While the track is significantly shorter than the previous single, clocking in at just over half the length, the band exhibits some heavier production with drums that sound big and bombastic like the hair metal bands of the 80s, loud, punchy guitars that take center stage, and harmonized background vocals that bring to mind thoughts of the major label pop punk bands from the aughts.

“Breeze” is available on Spotify, Bandcamp and all other streaming services. Check out the song through our Bandcamp embed below.

~ Akhenaten