Skeletor ROCKS!

All has been quiet on the NWOTM Blog front for the past few days. Believe me that it's not from a lack of material because I have a plethora of bands in which I need to offer up a bit o' blog space.

In fact, I smell another purge post coming.

Well, to make it up for the lack of write-ups, here is a killer band who says you can download their album for FREE!

Yes, that is completely bad-ass. Don't get all gushy.

So we travel to the Netherlands and meet up with the mighty SKELETOR! Sure they probably aren't the first nor the last band to covet the moniker, but it's really a non-issue until all the world's Skeletors participate in a giant Battle of the Bands. Losers have to change their names to SKELETOR UK or STELEKOR or something….ummmm…

Let's stay focused here. This SKELETOR hit me with a batch of surprising metal gut-punchers. Why surprising? Well, hell, it's a mix of their band name with the added silliness of their digital album cover showing a cheesy closeup shot of He-Man getting punched by the band name's fist.*

So, what I thought was going to be a quick slam into some possibly horrible pizza thrash turned out to be a collection of hard-hitting deathrash tunes layered in groove and technical prowess.

I found myself emerged in their album, never finding tedious moments to quicken my "song skip" impulse. These nine songs are well-written with a killer vocalist who knows how to harness the dynamics of the music.

The musical aggression displayed on the band's self-titled release stems from old Swedish death, enhancing it with the crispness of tight, technical thrash mixed with bold grooves. The riffs are killer, all brought to life in the highs-and-lows of feverish speed and mid-tempo punch.

I love it!

Skeletor is offering up their 2010 release as a "Name Your Price" album over on their Bandcamp page.

Check out the music below and then hit them up on their Facebook or MySpace page.

*As most of you know, I am NOT against goofy stuff in my metal. In fact, it was the silly cover to Skeletor's album that made me check it out. I was simply taken aback by the type of metal based on the art. Don't judge a book by its cover, right? Yep!

Also, let me note that a quick online search didn't turn up many bands named Skeletor (!!). There were German and US Skeletor bands, but both have split. Force Skeletor out of Tokyo changed their name and Von Skeletor out of California have split. I guess SKELETOR out of the Netherlands did win the Battle of the Bands after all!