SKELETAL SPECTRE

Debut album "Tomb Coven" (2009) from the shadowy figures known as SKELETAL SPECTRE was one heck a of a doom-imbued death metal release that crossed HELLHAMMER/CELTIC FROST with ASPHYX and then made certain you paid extra attention by building the grooves extra big and injecting the songwriting with memory-retention fluid. With "Occult Spawned Premonitions", most of the fundamentals remain, but this time Vanessa Nocera lends her spooky clean doom voice for occasional contrast to her varied death growls.

The Nocera twist accentuates the macabre -aspects of SKELETAL SPECTRE the new long player, syncing effectively with Vanessa's always smartly penned tales of terror; she is credited with lyrics on six of the eight cuts. No stranger to the Razorback family, Lucio Holocausto is the ghoul responsible for crypt tales on "Master of the Muck" and >"Untimely Tomb". It is true that Nocera's doom stamp is notable during this second LP chapter, but "Occult Spawned Premonitions" is more an old school death metal album than anything else, the nine harrowing minutes of mourning and iniquity that is "Domain of the Fleshless One" notwithstanding. As was the case with "Tomb Coven", the riffs on the new album come with jagged edges and giant-sized crunch, which makes the grooves seem that much bigger. That is assuredly the case with the mid-tempo stomp of "Scalped", the mammoth chug of the title track, and the sickening crush of "Raw Head and Bloody Bones".

The positives are indeed many, but the one issue of note that results in "Occult Spawned Premonitions" falling short its predecessor's greatness is songwriting that isn't quite as memorable. Granted, "Master of the Muck" holds its own with anything on "Tomb Coven", thanks in large part to a catchy chorus. On the whole however the sophomore effort does not deliver as many bulls' eyes. Much of that has more to do with the variations in vibe that Nocera brings with her vocal treatments, rather than anything that could be considered a compositional defect. In other words, serious issues these are not. "Occult Spawned Premonitions" is still a worthy follow-up to a fantastic debut.