Baltimore based Pulling Teeth released an extremely impressive demo and all expectations of what a proper release would be are exceeded on this recording. Vicious Skin is eleven tracks of fast-paced hardcore and crossover goodness served up over the course of fourteen short tumultuous minutes.
On Vicious Skin, Pulling Teeth draw heavily from two schools of thought, paying homage to mid-90's metallic hardcore and the pioneers of the crossover scene of the early 80's. The intro track, "Weeds," and the succeeding song, "Never Wrong," lean in the hardcore direction. Both prominently feature wicked guitar solos provided by guitarist Dom Romeo over a backdrop of heavy metallic hardcore - think Integrity's Systems Overload. And when he's not shredding a solo in Melnick fashion, Romeo and fellow guitarist Tony Hare are laying down blistering licks and the occasional breakdown. "Bleeding to Death" is another prime example of this sound.
On the opposite side of things, we've got tracks like "Prepare for the Worst." The songwriting of this track is a lot more reminiscent of early crossover acts like D.R.I. than it is of the previous tracks. Pulling Teeth revisit this sound throughout Vicious Skin with the highlight moment being the title track, which shares a lot in common with South of Heaven-era Slayer.
Pulling Teeth mix these two similar yet clearly defined sounds up over the rest of the album. The resulting mixture does yield some overlapping in styles. "Heretic" and "Weapons of Mosh Destruction" are short blasts of hardcore, but with very prominent thrash-metal moments and significant use of double bass in the drumming.
And while the band is shredding it up, vocalist Mike Riley is screaming his lungs out. Riley touches on a variety of topics, including religion - "Rot Forgotten" - workplace monotony - "Sand and Cells" and the end of it all - "Prepare for the Worst." However, my favorite lyrics come from "Heretic:"
I defy you, you'll never have control / I deny you and your soul-controlling role / And I'll breathe every breath as a free man / And I'll curse your fucking name as often as I can.
Also worth noting is the artwork throughout Vicious Skin, which is pretty stellar. The front cover depicts a pretty gnarly painting of two devilish angels hovering of the ruins of city. The CD art is an image that personifies the bands namesake, as does the image below the CD tray. All in all, the images throughout really compliment the music quite well.
Vicious Skin may not last very long, but the songs that comprise it are excellent examples of hardcore done right. It's something fresh and a little different, and that's what hardcore needs - a little variety every now and again.
