10 Greatest Black Metal Albums Of The 21st Century

Equal parts skull-rattling thrash and soul-crushing despondency, the fourth album from American idols Skeletonwitch is one of the speedier black metal albums out there, but that does nothing to dampen its unhallowed brilliance.

Forever Abomination is unequivocally the centrepiece of the blackened speed metal niche, boasting eleven songs that are brief and quick enough to cause whiplash, resulting in an album only slightly longer than half an hour. However, every minute is put to good use, providing ceaseless pace that combines perfectly with the pitched, wailed vocals of now-ex-frontman Chance Garnette and the album’s duelling, eerily melodic lead guitars.

With Forever Abomination being as fast and fleeting as it is, it’s inordinately difficult to pick out highlights, but the sheer heathenism of “Reduced to the Failure of Prayer”, the chunky bass and grooves of “Cleaver of Souls” and the haunting acoustic sounds of “This Horrifying Force (The Desire to Kill)” are definitely moments that incessantly demand a listener’s attention.

Beyond that, Forever Abomination is glorious in its ferocious consistency, driven and narrow-minded with sheer, lightning-fast quickness to match. For Skeletonwitch, this is a clear highlight in a brilliant career that has also spawned such must-listen opuses as Breathing the Fire and Serpents Unleashed.