 
Skindred are one of the most loved rock bands
in the UK today, their third studio album ‘Shark
Bites And Dog Fights’ really saw them step
up their game and ever since then they have been
touring the world over as much as they can with
festival appearances, headline shows and also
a massive support slot on the recent Rob Zombie
UK come back tour and they still found time to
work on their forth studio album ‘Union
Black’ which is due for release on the 25th
April.
‘Union Black’ is one of the most anticipated
albums from a UK rock band in a long time especially
after Skindred recently teased their fans by releasing
their new single ‘Warning’ featuring
Papa Roach’s Jacoby Shaddick online to stream
on their MySpace page, Benji has also recently
gave a lot of interviews about the album claiming
that it is their hardest hitting record to date
and I have to agree as Benji’s vocals are
on top form coming across louder, stronger and
clearer than ever before, and with themes tackling
real life situation like the current gun and knife
crime crises which is gripping the country.
The album opens with the title track ‘Union
Black’ black which is a dark slight electronic
variation of the English national anthem, Benji
covers this pretty well vocally and moments later
the guitars come in super charged for ‘Warning’
the explosive first single from the album which
features Jacoby Shaddick from Papa Roach, the
mix of Benji and Jacoby’s vocals work ever
so well and the general fast pace and heavy riffs
more than guarantees that bones could be broke
in the pit at future Skindred gigs as this is
proper hard hitting stuff.
Next up is ‘Cut Dem’ another really
fast paced heavy song that is just crying out
for you to sing-a-long to, the song is about the
current knife crime craze that is gripping the
UK a topic that really needs covering and one
that Benji and co cover all so well with heavy
riffs, gripping vocals and the odd dub step moment.
‘Doom Rif’ is yet another hard hitting
mosh pit anthem where as soon as the chorus kicks
in you can gurantee that a massive circle pit
will kick off at the bands future shows, the guitars
riffs are full on crunching riffs, the drum beats
pack an almighty punch, the basslines are full
of skill and Benji’s vocals could not get
any better.
‘Living A Lie’ starts off more mellow
but as the song progresses it adapts the heavy
fast pace that the rest of the songs on the album
have with the chorus being an absolutely killer.
‘Gun Talk’ is without a doubt the
stand out track on the album because Skindred
have managed to cover such a dark horrible topic
but turn it into a really nice upbeat ska meets
reggae dance track which is bound to be a dance
floor filler at rock clubs across the country.
The great thing about ‘Union Black’
is as the album progresses it just gets better
and better, the first 6 tracks are without a doubt
the strongest tracks on the album, but the next
6 tracks also manage to keep up the positive pace
the only difference is that the later part of
the album is not as hard hitting as the earlier
part but the quality is still there.
Personally I think that Skindred have fully upped
their game with ‘Union Black’ and
it is going to be an instant hit with the fans
and if Skindred ever do decide to play ‘Union
Black’ in its entirety at a future gig I
would bring your body armour along as the pit
is going to fucking explode with these heavy tunes.
5/5
Review by Trigger
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