Review: Various Artists – 'It Ain't Dead Yet – A Tribute To Skinny Puppy'

VARIOUS ARTISTS
'It Ain't Dead Yet – A Tribute To Skinny Puppy'
TRIBULATIONS

There is no question that Skinny Puppy have been one of the most influential acts to have emerged out of the industrial scene over the last thirty-odd years. Bands from Nine Inch Nails through to the likes of Dead When I Found Her all have a stylistic nod to Skinny Puppy within their sonic formula. It's with this in mind that Tribulations has compiled a 34-track free compilation of Skinny Puppy covers from a number of diverse modern artists.

At 34 tracks long it would be a bit much to break-down every single one but there really is something for everyone here. The gamut runs from synthpop right through to experimental noise. A few of the particular highlights include contributions from the likes of Leaether Strip, IIOIOIOII, Dead When I Found Her, Acid Rodent, Flesh Eating Foundation, Ghostlike, Kiforth, Necrotek, and Volt 9000. Each of whom add their own unique style to the originals.

Some tracks stick pretty close to the source material, while others go off in vastly different directions. It's great to hear just what artists will do when given free reign with someone else's material, and this album is a great example of that process. But for hardened Skinny Puppy fans you can be assured every contribution shows the band's work respect and love.

The compilation has been mastered well to assure there are no glaring differences in sound quality between tracks and even when moving between something more ear-friendly to another harsher contribution the track list progresses smoothly.

This is a really nice compilation, and for a free release really shows a lot of dedication from everyone involved. Hopefully this won't just be a one-time deal and we can expect more from Tribulations in the future, as this as certainly set a high benchmark for a good tribute album.  

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