Nothingface - Skeletons
TVT Records
Alternative / Nu-Metal
13 songs (48:07)
Release year: 2003
Nothingface, TVT Records
Reviewed by Khelek
Archive review

Nothingface to me is the band that I think represents the nu-metal scene the best and this album is, so far, the pinnacle of their achievement. Released in 2003, Skeletons shows that the band still has the anger and aggression of their past work, but also that they are able to channel some of their energy into more melodic not to mention extremely well-written songs. There's not a track on this album that I can say I don't like, whether it's the pure hostility of Machination or the more tranquil Patricide, this group knows how to write great music.

The album starts out with the blasting energy of Machination, vocalist Matt Holt begins with whispers, the aggressive growls coming in soon after and even a little clean singing mixed in with the short, calm interludes between the violence. After this aggressive beginning the album mellows out a bit with Beneath, in which Holt uses a lot of clean vocals, which sounds pretty good. I'm not crazy about his clean voice but it’s not bad at all. This song is almost more of a ballad as the chorus, as well as other parts of the song, is quite melodic. The next track brings in the violence again with Murder Is Masturbation. We get extremely heavy, down-tuned guitars and raw, guttural vocals. At this point I start seeing a trend here with the moods of the songs being switched back and forth between melody and aggression. This pattern continues with Ether, another more melodic track with a lot of clean, harmonized singing. The lyrics are still pretty dark and violent, but the music is much calmer than in the previous track. I Wish I Was A Communist comes in with the raw aggression again, followed by In Avernus, another really good melodic track that again talks about violence and anger, but has Holt once more utilizing some great clean vocals. So far I really like this pattern because although all the songs have similarities, they also have their differences so that they all stand out in their own way. I really like the song Scission because the guitar work is interesting with some different sounding riffs and time signature. The slight reverb that been put on the vocals also sounds different but in a good way. This song also incorporates the heavy riffs but also gives off the slower, melodic vibe, especially during the chorus. This song actually reminds me somewhat of a song Helmet would do. The album closes out with All Cut Up, another mixture of aggression and melody that gives you one last track that displays the full-fledged Nothingface sound. I think the album has succeeded in showing of the mixture of aggression and melody that embodies the darker side of the human condition. This album certainly brings in more melodic elements than were present in their past work, and I enjoyed the approach they took on this album, which was to alternate between the calmer and more melodic songs and the violent, aggressive ones.

There really isn’t much left for me to say about this album. It's great, plain and simple. This band has matured over the years and this is the end result of them perfecting their unique take on the modern, nu-metal, whatever-you-want-to-call-it sound. These guys just know how to write killer songs that keep me coming back again and again.

Killing Songs :
Murder Is Masturbation, Ether, I Am Him, Scission
Khelek quoted 88 / 100
Other albums by Nothingface that we have reviewed:
Nothingface - Violence reviewed by Khelek and quoted 82 / 100
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