SKINFLINT is a band hailing from Botswana, yup, that's right. I myself have never heard of a band hailing from there, but there's a first time for everything. The real question is, is it a memorable first time or is it a first time you'd rather forget. The first thing that hit me was actually the production, it's terrible, but I grew up in the 90s wave of shitty Black Metal productions so I decided to overlook that for now and carried on.

And so it's about time to get to what matters, the music, which despite the raw production is actually very good. "Dipoko" opens with the title track, and opening reminiscent of the Paul Dianno era of IRON MAIDEN, and that's the style the follows the album as a whole, the band have crafted an album which follows the classic formula of NWOBHM, it's more melodic than purely heavy with slower interludes, the bass dominates heavily on the record, frontman

Giuseppe "Juice" Sbrana  many times sounds like a harsher voiced Bruce Dickinson. The band is actually a trio which is in itself unusual in today's landscape of Heavy Metal. "Dreams of Eternity" is another number impressed me, it certainly continues the MAIDENesque theme but with a more balladry feel. The album is certainly unusual when put in the confines of modern day Heavy Metal as it sounds straight from the early 80's and tends to be far slower than today's Power / Speed Metal influenced bands, yet that's actually a good thing, it makes the album stand out more from the masses.

"Olitiau" for example seems to be a hybrid which incorporates more MANOWAR into it. All in all, this album is actually pretty good, the musicianship is solid, and so is the songwriting. But that makes me wonder how good it could have been with a little more studio time and proper production. The production certainly devalues the quality of any record and this is no exception.

It's good, not great, but good, it does have great potential and I certainly recommend any old school Heavy Metal fans to give it a listen.