Skeletonwitch Are Back With A Mafuggin Vengeance

Not even twenty-five percent down, 2016 has already cemented its status as an uncommonly massive year for heavy metal. Occasionally you'll see a renaissance pop up within a genre, like glam metal in the 80s, early 90s black metal or the groove movement in the Noughties, but not since the 70s have we seen so many varied genres of heavy music simultaneously releasing such uniformly mind-blowing stuff as 2016. I'll get to a Greatest of 2016 So Far list in due time, but for now, I'm utterly exhilarated by this new track from Skeletonwitch, who return with their new singer and an upcoming EP. I interviewed guitarist Scott Hedrick for Metal Hammer a couple of years ago and it was a boatload of fun for a whole host of reasons. Usually these interviews happen over the phone in twenty-minute chunks and for some reason we ended up doing it over Skype. I believe we both assumed it would be Skype phone, but then we realised we were both sitting at our desks in our respective homes, so we flipped over to video and had coffee together. Scott is an incredibly chill guy and with a giant poster of his home state Ohio hanging over his shoulder, we discussed the then-upcoming release of their fourth album, Serpents Unleashed, plus a few memorable road stories, the best of which included Mr. Glenn Danzig. While on tour supporting the former Misfits frontman in 2008, Skeletonwitch were having a good bit of fun in their dressing room, perhaps carrying on a bit too loudly, because Danzig stormed into the room and roared, “What the fuck is so funny in here? You guys are in here carrying on and my dressing room is next door!” Within milliseconds, each guy had sussed that their run of Danzig opening slots had just reached a rather loud and depressing end.  Recalls guitarist Scott Hedrick, “Everybody just shit. We were like, Oh shit! Glenn hates us. We’re off the tour... And then he breaks up and goes, ‘Aw, I’m just fucking with you guys! What’s up? I’m Glenn. I love you guys! I’m the reason you guys are here.’”Since then they've replaced singers — a task with an obscenely high level of difficulty for any band with a clutch of albums and a reputation for such a thrilling live show — and brought on board Adam Clemans, from Wolvhammer. The first video from the upcoming EP is below. Decide for yourselves what you think, but I, for one, am officially stoked to hear more.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZgHDonZa7ws More about Skeletonwitch from the people they pay to tell you such things:

SKELETONWITCH are back with a new single, "Well of Despair," which marks their first recording featuring new vocalist Adam Clemans (Wolvhammer). Recorded at Baltimore's Developing Nations with Kevin Bernsten (Noisem, Magrudergrind, Mutilation Rites) earlier this year, the single will also be included on their upcoming EP due out later this year.

Over the past decade, SKELETONWITCH has received considerable acclaim for its trademark “blackened metal,” which Metal Hammer calls “a potent brew of everything that makes metal so brilliant, vital and special.” The group’s relentless work ethic — personified by a 63-concerts-in-65-days test of endurance in 2012 – is second to none in the genre and has cemented their reputation as one of metal’s most important acts. Previous tours with the likes of Danzig, Arch Enemy, The Black Dahlia Murder, Amon Amarth, Enslaved, Children of Bodom, Cannibal Corpse and Ozzy Osbourne’s Ozzfest have helped to cultivate one of the genre’s most passionate fan bases. Their most recent full-length release, “Serpents Unleashed,” debuted on the Billboard 200 at #62, the highest chart position of their career.