'Skeleton Key' is Excommunicated's debut album, and it certainly makes its mark in the Death Metal realm. The band certainly makes their stand on anti-religious themes, as many Death Metal bands have done before, but rather than just unleash blasting storm after storm of blastbeats and growls, Excommunicated work in more subtle elements. Take the first track for example with its creepy symphonic introduction that one might expect from Cradle Of Filth with its Gothic overtones before leading into an excellent blend of Melodic Death solos from the guitars. The heavier parts on the album are mostly rhythmic Death Metal on a track like "Minutes Of The Corpse Trials," which has a buzzing atmosphere around it with a mix of growls- sometimes layered in a way similar to Deicide- and at other times almost spoken word Hardcore chants and snarls, making a strong hybrid of music. Some critics have also said that Black Metal can be heard within the music as well, and from the looks of things there are a few traces. "The Incorruptibles" certainly use a Black Metal guitar structure while relying on the Death Meta vocals, but for the most part listeners are going to hear a lot of blastbeats with a fuzzy lo-fi overtone (sometimes this can get in the way of the vocals but it isn't too bad).
One thing Excommunicated does very well to help flesh out their church/ religion themes is include a lot of atmospheric moments on the album (similar to recent Marduk or even Funeral Mist). "Christ's Sword" opens up with a prayer that, by itself, is more haunting than any of the growls or snarls that the vocalist could perform. "The Birth Of Tragedy" has a sample of the Litany of the Saints from the procession of Pope JPII's funeral before bringing in a calming instrumental of single string picked guitar notes before the rant of a priest comes forth, though it is slightly muffled by the music and is very hard to hear unfortunately. Finally there is "The Sum Of Life's Pain" which sounds almost Doom Metal influenced with lengthy, spoken lament, creating the perfect atmosphere for a dark album such as this. Altogether, these tracks will provide an experience that isn't is blatantly Satanic as something by Deicide or as thought twisting as Funeral Mist, but rather merging the two styles together for a strong, creative effort that can draw numerous kinds of Metal fans together and provide the best of both worlds.
