United We Stand... Together We Fall
Skeptor
•
December 14, 2014

There are those metalheads who would say that Thrash Metal is about (primarily) beer, partying, zombies, killer guitar riffs, and politics. Here with the latest installment of political Thrash Metal is SKEPTOR with their debut United We Stand... Together We Fall. This festive quintet from California have their roots firmly in the 80's Speed Metal scene. Some of their influences include TOXIK, ANTHRAX, OVERKILL, KREATOR, and the mighty JUDAS PRIEST.
For starters, I'll say that I'm extremely impressed by the structure of each song. The tempo changes, the sudden breaks, and the blistering pace of the music all seem to add emphasis to their political statement. It tells me that this was a well-thought out song construction and it was intended to fill a very specific niche in Thrash Metal. It's as if these guys sat down and decided they would write the craziest, wildest music they could and throw some beyond-insane vocals straight out of the pages of Power or Progressive and NWOBHM. It goes to figure since they describe their genre as Progressive Thrash Metal. Whatever they decided to do, they nailed it.
I also want to elaborate a little on the title track. This is a seven-plus minute raging piece of ear candy. They went through with whatever idea that had of making this the premiere song of the album. United We Stand... Together We Fall is a legitimate masterpiece for this band. Any praise they get is well-deserved and it's obvious just from this song alone that they are really, REALLY good at what they have set out to do.
SKEPTOR has combined a Thrash Metal platform for their music with a rather technical aspect and it's pretty catchy. The guitar progression of each song is fairly complex and makes for a series of interesting melodies, giving it a great listening value. This album is headlined by Steven Villa's blazing-high vocals that had me looking dumbfounded at what I was hearing, thinking how is this possible, especially just before the three-minute mark on "Sentenced to Death."
But it's awesome; combined with the lyrics, they have a message and that is to belt out their statement through the medium of blisteringly cool Metal. The total playing time for the seven song album is only about thirty five minutes and to me, writing each song to be a decent length speaks to me of the quality of the music. Some Thrash Metal bands write songs that are only a minute and a half long and aren't capable of the level of variety heard from bands like SKEPTOR. They are sick of government greed and corruption, and the more you understand how sick their music is, the more they'll bury their message into your ears via this, their first release, United We Stand... Together We Fall!
7 / 10
Good

"United We Stand... Together We Fall" Track-listing:
1. Turn it Off
2. United We Stand... Together We Fall
3. Key to Power
4. Tyrant
5. Savage Metal
6. Disciples of the IV-th Branch
7. Sentenced to Death
Skeptor Lineup:
Jeff Rodriguez - Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Daniel Brown - Lead/Rhythm Guitar
Steven Villa - Vocals
Jeffrey Castro - Bass
Chris Flores - Drums
More results...