Skumstrike – Flawless Intrigue from Hell (Adjectivally Blackened Speed Metal Punk)
I like it when bands have no fucking clue what they’re talking about. You don’t need to even know proper English (or any language) when you bring power like Skumstrike but, yes, let us analyze what’s going on here. Flawless Intrigue from Hell? Bros, WTF does that even mean lol? The adjective is completely unnecessary, not to mention out of context! But, as I already said, a band like this doesn’t need their words to mean shit. Much like the skeleton, on fire, on the cover, wielding a chain, also on fire, all they need to do is bring the blazing, flawless assault from metal.
I was a huge fan of these Canadian speedfreaks when I heard their last full-length, Deadly Intrusions, but the cover art was a bit of a mess and difficult to work as an eye-catching visual (trust me that shit matters for recognition). So I held off, and I’m happy I did because not only does Flawless Intrigue from Hell blow their previous work away in terms of the visual identity, it flawlessly destroys anything they wrote prior. With a blackened punk edge imbued through flames with the pure steel of speed metal, Skumstrike have further set themselves apart from the weak, and hopefully they’ll keep the lack of proper English key to their style, because it just makes it that much more flippant, adding to the IDGAF of it all. That’s what true punk is, a lack of care for everything (including physical safety), and when you mix in things of the black and speed it up to an inhuman level, well, flawless is scarcely the word to capture what you’ll hear.
Written by Stanley, Devourer of Souls
Skumstrike – Flawless Intrigue from Hell
Dying Victims Productions
Cover Art: Misanthropic-Art (Chris Kiesling)
4.5 / 5
