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Gravestrone Skyline - Paper + Plastick Records
One of Paper + Plastick Records’ more out of place signings, punk-metal group Hellmouth sounds more like something you’d come to expect on Panic Records than the Florida label’s uppity roster. With labelmates like The Dopamines, Stephen Egerton, Landmines, and Have Nots, I doubt they’ll be sharing too many stages any time soon. Consequently, if you usually jump blindfolded into the Paper + Plastick pot, then you might want to tread a little more cautiously. That being said, the label has still chosen wisely, with Hellmouth sure to please a different kind of crowd.
Glancing at the cover of the band’s sophomore release, Gravestone Skylines, no one can fault the group for not warning listeners of the dark content within. This is hard and heavy thrash punk intended to conjure brutal imagery and hopelessness. Opener “Funeral Drenched” chugs along with weighty guitars and frontman Jay Navarro’s ripcord vocals shredding with clear but ragged speed. When shouting about a peril strong enough to “black out the sun,” it’s hard to maintain any sort of optimism. “The deeper you go the more maggots there are” explodes during the opening line on “Desperate and Violent,” a track which’s title most accurately describes that within. Characteristic to thrash metal (think Agnostic Front tuned Outbreak), Gravestone Skylines shies away from excessive breakdowns, instead plugging away at ramming speed for minutes on end (“The Sun Is Dying”). Consequently, when the group grinds to a halt on “Exodus,” the effect crashes for apocalyptic effect.
Lyrically you won’t find much out of the ordinary realm of doom and gloom, but there’s enough dark humour scattered throughout to prevent depression from setting in. Track titles like “Amen Assholes” and witty statements of excess (like “god I love my demons, they’re my only friends”) set out to raise a smirk amidst such dire content. You’ll never find yourself laughing, but it’s enough to keep the majority from wearing terribly thin.
However, at nearly an hour, Gravestone Skylines tends to drag towards its final moments – not much new in terms of content or sound emerges past the first thirty minutes. That being said, the change shouldn’t be interpreted as a reduction in quality, as the album remains remarkably consistent from start to finish – Hellmouth simply hits a creative saturation point common to the genre. All in all, Gravestone Skylinesmakes for a solid listen unique amongst the Paper + Plastick family that fans of thrash-punk and metal should find worth their time. Just don’t expect anything out of the ordinary.