Old Skin - Maere 7"

The winter months may be dragging 2013 to it's gloomy conclusion, but there's still time for one final belch of heaviness from Manchester's Church of Fuck, who in collaboration with Manchester's newest label Dry Cough Records and purveyors of eclectic noise Skin and Bones Records, have released the first record for Manchester's own Old Skin. Their unpredictability saw them plat their release show for this record in a corridor of a unknown building in their home city.

They've been getting plenty of media attention from the likes of Rock Sound and Terrorizer magazines and have performed alongside Deafheaven and fellow CoF bands at this years Fuck Fest, where they put on a cracking set alongside their fellow CoF label-mates. Maere features five blasting, negative hardcore songs that could only come from the grim north-west.

Tracklist:-

1. Sleep/Sores
2. Hag/Ridden
3. Follish/Fires
4. Moral/Panic
5. Sleep/Soars

Opening with the terrifying sounds of a tambourine, Sleep/Sores features a sound scape of melodic guitar and sampled singing with an Eastern-flavour. It not until the two-minute mark of the song that Old Skin explode into a heaving mass of caustic hardcore. Hag/Ridden goes straight for the jugular with it’s no holds barred attacked on the senses. Fast PV laced hardcore with metallic flourishes, deafening cymbal crashes and low almost barked vox. It flows straight into Foolish/Fires, which follows in the same vein. Old Skin weave some really catchy elements into their hardcore, with some song-arrangements that may come as a surprise, even if they are brief.

They make an about turn with Moral/Panic, instead going for a more sizeable and atmospheric sound.  Taking cues from bands of the moment like Nails and Seven Sisters of Sleep, their doomier side comes to the fore thanks to some great guitar work. Ending with a semi-droning riff, you’re enveloped in sound that makes you tingle. The majority of Manchester is surrounded by rolling hills and desolate moors. That landscape is summed up in the majestic closing song Sleep/Soars. The song itself probably isn’t about the countryside of the grey gloom that covers the city most of the year, but it conjures up those kinds of images and it slowly builds. Maere ends quietly and after the cleansing peacefulness of Sleep/Soars, you’re ready to face it all again.

In these these five songs, Old Skin have signalled their intent to experiment and to not be bound by one single genre. They’ve mixed in-you-face heaviness with grand crescendo’s. It’s hard to describe without actually listening to it, but it’s pretty damn moving.

Listen to it below:-



You can buy Maere from the following places:-

Church of Fuck Bigcartel - http://churchoffuck.bigcartel.com
Dry Cough Records Bigcartel - http://drycoughrecords.bigcartel.com
Skin And Bones Records Big Cartel - http://skinandbonesrecs.bigcartel.com

You can also pick it up from Halo Of Flies and Broken Limbs Recordings in the states.

Old Skin Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/wehaveoldskin
Church of Fuck Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/churchoffck
Dry Cough Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/DryCoughRecords
Skin And Bones Records Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/SkinAndBonesRecords