Yskelgroth are a black metal band from Spain and this is their second album.
Featuring the vocalist from the mighty Avulsed, Bleeding of the Hideous is a 33-minute mix of black and death metal that’s ferocious and harsh, yet not without depth and substance.
The music presents as an aggressive black metal assault with noticeable death metal influences, and it hits hard across multiple planes of nightmare existence. The music is scathing and abrasive, with moments of both sheer brutality and blackened grandeur, all wrapped up in a short, concise package.
A raw second wave black metal heart is beefed up with an injection of death metal muscle. With songs that are short and fast, plenty of dark grim atmosphere, and macabre synths, Bleeding of the Hideous makes a very good first impression if you’re partial to this sort of stuff. Which I clearly am. The synths layer the music with a traditional symphonic splendour that I really enjoy. They’re not omnipresent, but they are impactful when they’re used. Serpentine rhythms pulse and writhe, occasionally morphing into the sort of burly riff that makes you just want to headbang.
All of the performances are first rate, no matter the instrument you look at. Yskelgroth’s music is surprisingly content-heavy; for such a brief album there’s a lot packed into these songs, with quite a few layers to absorb and digest. This is to its credit, of course, and it’s one of many reasons to keep returning to it.
I really like the vocals, but of course I do, due to who is making these evil sounds. The growls are as inhuman as you’d expect, but I’m impressed by the blackened screams, which form the bulk of the vocals.
Bleeding the Hideous is a really enjoyable and well-written blackened attack. Yskelgroth’s music hits that special spot when you want aggressive extreme metal that has a few different aggressive facets to its personality.
Very highly recommended.
Wonderbox Metal 