Totem Skin – Weltschmerz
...a breath of fresh air both in terms of its tight production and neat music writing
Halo of Flies never disappoint and their newest release from Totem Skin is surely a proof for that. However, the first glimpse at the anime-inspired artwork and the Bandcamp tags might trick you into skipping this one, because it looks like a bit of an aesthetical clash to mix harsh metal influenced crust with such imagery more suitable for post-metal stuff. However, click play below and you’ll be proven wrong, just as I was.
Weltschmerz goes way beyond your typical crust record. First thing you’ll notice is the super neat production, which allows the music to sound super powerful and massive. Yes, it could have been a bit rawer and nastier, but we’ve heard enough of that so it’s a fresh breath of air for sure. Another thing are the vocals, which vary from song to song, there are screams, lows, doubles, cleaner sections and raw melodic ones. It’s great to have such a variety in a genre which already has become pretty standard in terms of ways people sing. But not only the vocals of Weltschmerz are a step out of the box, music-wise the record is also pretty varying. Yes, it’s deadly fast at most times, but Totem Skin can also be pretty quiet, mellow or slow and heavy… or both. That gives the album great dynamics, interesting overall structure and surely is a guarantee you’ll be discovering new bits of music in each new spin.
