Skeletonwitch

Skeletonwitch formed in Athens, Ohio, as a punishing extreme metal unit that fuses unadorned thrash with melodic death metal. Their primary influences trace back two decades to the persistent legacy of classic Bay Area thrash, its foundations in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, and, in smaller measure, death, black, and Viking metal. The group surfaced in 2004 with the compact At One with the Shadows. Signing with Prosthetic Records in 2007 marked a move away from pure thrash toward a tighter fusion of velocity, force, and shadow, an approach that reached its clearest expression on the band’s sixth studio album, the black metal-centric Devouring Radiant Light.

The lineup came together in 2003 with Chance Garnette on vocals, Nate Garnette on guitar, Scott “Scunty D” Hedrick on guitar, Eric Harris on bass, and Derrick Nau on drums. Skeletonwitch first appeared on record with the independently issued At One with the Shadows in 2004 and the Worship the Witch EP in 2006. Their distinctive blend of retro inspiration and contemporary execution attained greater refinement on the 2007 Prosthetic debut Beyond the Permafrost. Following extensive road work, Chance and Nate Garnette, along with Hedrick, Nau, and bassist Evan Linger, entered the studio for the follow-up. Breathing the Fire arrived in 2009 and entered the Billboard 200 at number 151. Forever Abomination, released in 2011, marked the first Skeletonwitch album to feature drummer Dustin Boltjes. The 2013 release Serpents Unleashed, on which producer Kurt Ballou faithfully rendered the band’s ferocious live energy, peaked at number 62 and became the final recording with vocalist Chance Garnette, who was dismissed in 2015 over substance abuse issues.

In 2016 the group recruited Adam Clemans, formerly of Wolvhammer, as vocalist and issued the EP The Apothic Gloom, which shifted further toward Nordic and black metal textures largely because of Clemans’ more aggressive delivery. Devouring Radiant Light, the 2018 full-length, sustained that trajectory by balancing subtlety with brutality.