Old Skin - :consume:

I've written before about Manchester's Old Skin, back when they had their two-track demo going around about a year ago. When they followed that up with a more rounded, experimental sound on the Mære 7" soon after, I remarked that the UK's hardcore scene was witnessing the birth of something special.

With the release of :consume:, another two-track teaser CD, they continue to build upon that early promise.

First off, the band have chosen an unusual method of releasing this latest concise burst of vehemence, choosing to make it available as both a digital download and extremely limited CD for just one week. At midnight GMT on 1/6/14 it will be taken down, and completely unavailable save for being shared among those lucky enough to have been paying attention.

While the whole 'mysterious limited release' thing has been around for a while, it's been mainly due to deliberately small pressings or complete lack of promotion. By contrast, :consume: has garnered quite a bit of attention, and rightfully so.

Stripping away the overly-experimental flourishes of their last release, we are left with two bare bones tracks that tear past in a mere 6 minutes. 'Swordcharmer' alternates between high-register off-kilter riffage and muscular chugging passages, with some frantic rhythms courtesy of drummer Dan Watson, while 'Snakeswallower' doesn't fuck with that formula too much, but with some seriously unhinged fleet-fingered fretwork from guitarist Joe Clayton. Guaranteed to have heads either spinning or banging, you'll be hitting the replay button either way.

You have 6 hours left from the time of publication of this post to snag these tracks, and I can't recommend that you do highly enough. The band themselves note "This release ends a period of time we are extremely proud of and grateful for, and has given us the momentum to write our first LP, to be recorded in December 2014."
If they continue to mine the same furious vein as they have thus far, the full-length is sure to be absolutely incredible. Don't sleep; consume.

Old Skin on Facebook | Bandcamp