After a six year hiatus, the Bay Area’s Skinlab are back with their long overdue, much anticipated new album, The Scars Between Us. Having been a fan since Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded, I have seen the ups and downs of the band to say the least. To this day, Disembody: The New Flesh is still one of my favorite albums of all time, but 2002′s Revolting Room…um yea, not so much. I’m just wondering after all this time, can the boys from Cali-for-ni-a still bring it?

With most albums, a band will put their strongest tracks at the beginning to immediately grab the listener’s attention. Well, this isn’t the case with The Scars Between Us. I found both of the opening tracks to be a little stale and monotonous. “Face Of Aggression” and “Amphetamine God” have their share of double bass, upbeat brutality, and hellacious vocals, but I found that they really followed the same path. They aren’t bad songs, but the songwriting is anything but stellar; and coming from Skinlab, I expect better than this. It’s like Skinlab felt that they had to come out and prove, “Hey we’re still brutal, so here’s two in-your-face songs.” There are some sick grooves at the end of both, but not enough to make me come back for more.

Next on the metal plate is the colossal “Scream At The World.” From the opening groove, you just feel absolutely violated. Monster guitars are forced down your throat as Steev Esquivel vocally murders it. Skinlab then lay down a solid-as-concrete up-tempo groove that will surely wake the dead. Now THIS is the Skinlab of old!

“Karma Burns” takes us back to the slower, more dark Bound, Gagged and Blindfolded days. The creepy guitar tones are layered perfectly with Esquivel’s low, evil singing voice. The chorus opens up to huge walls of plodding, distortion-filled goodness. The pace does pick up a bit, which just adds to the massiveness that is the “Bay Area” sound.

“Paper Trails” is yet another amazing track just dripping with disgusting heaviness. The opening bass and drum lines are intertwined with a sweet guitar bounce that will “make-ya shake what the good lawd gave-ya.” The song really mixes the great grooves of Disembody: The New Flesh and the best dynamics of The Revolting Room.

The last few tracks on the album really deserve mention. “Bloodclot” is a fast (I mean two minutes fast), meaty dose of in-your-face, hate-filled “whole-lotta ass whippin.” “My Vendetta” brings Skinlab’s sound out in full force. The guitars are filled with Grand Canyon style grooves that will make you want to slap your momma. The drum and bass work are top notch, while Esquivel screams and shrieks like a monster from the bowels of hell. Totally awesome!

Although The Scars Between Us has a few tracks that I really couldn’t get into, the album as a whole is fantastic. There may even be a few production issues here and there, but it never takes away from the full-on beatdown that this album delivers. Even after a long absence, Skinlab still show that they truly are a force to be reckoned with.

4.0/5