Genre confusion, sirens, and the occasional cheerleader.
161 days till W:O:A 2023.
And we are going from doom to boom. After last week’s doom and gloom with Pentagram, it felt like time for something a little—less apocalyptic. Enter: Skindred.
The most recent addition to the Wacken line-up, and a band that instantly caught my ear with their latest single Gimme That Boom.
Seriously—go listen to it and tell me it doesn’t make you want to kick a bin over and throw a festival in a car park. It's loud, ridiculous, and unreasonably fun. Pure festival energy. Their new album Smile is due out on August 4th, 2023—just in time for Wacken—and if Gimme That Boom is any indication, it’s going to be a wild ride.
Who (and what) is Skindred
Skindred hail from Newport, Wales, and have been around since 1998. The band was founded by vocalist Benji Webbe and bassist Daniel Pugsley. By the time they released their debut Babylon in 2002, the line-up had solidified with guitarist Mikey Demus and drummer Arya Goggin—and they’ve stuck with it ever since. Over 20 years now. Which, in band years, is basically forever.
If you're curious about the band’s full backstory and individual members, there’s a documentary floating around on YouTube. It’s worth a watch, especially if you want to understand what’s going on inside this wonderfully chaotic machine.
Big Tings, big shrugs
Skindred have released seven studio albums so far. Their debut was a chaotic, joyful mash-up of alternative metal and reggae—which did surprisingly well in the US. They've never been afraid to experiment, and each album brings some kind of reinvention.
Their 2018 album Big Tings, however, is probably their least heavy release to date. If you’re looking for ragga-metal mayhem or full-blown genre-blending madness, this one plays it a bit safer. There’s still energy, but it’s more hard rock than metal. Sometimes even veering into—pop? Hard to say.
For a band that coined the term “ragga rock,” there’s not much ragga to be found here. Not a lot of rapping. Very little reggae. Mostly clean vocals, catchy choruses, and the occasional electronic flourish.
Whooping, sirens, and cheerleaders, apparently
That said, there are some definite standouts.
The second track, That’s My Jam, is completely unhinged—in a good way. It’s groovy, relentlessly upbeat, and almost impossible to sit still through. The chorus is made for crowds. There’s even live footage from Wacken 2018 to prove it, complete with crowd whooping and Webbe launching into a ragga breakdown while sirens go off like it’s a rave in a fire station.
I also enjoyed Last Chance for its sludgy guitar tone and the cheerleader-style background shouts, which—against all logic—somehow work. And then there’s Machine, easily the heaviest track on the album. It kicks off with a riff that could’ve been borrowed from the Beastie Boys and features guest appearances from Phil Campbell (Motörhead) and Gary Stringer (REEF). It’s loud, punchy, and solidly in hard rock territory. Not metal, but not nothing.
A single saves the day
The rest of Big Tings didn’t do much for me. The energy dips, the hooks blur together, and it all starts to drag by the second half. It feels like a band with ideas—just not quite sure what to do with them.
But then they released Gimme That Boom, and suddenly it all snapped back into focus. Loud, absurd, full of swagger and nonsense—the kind of song that makes you want to jump into a pit and dance like you're being chased. If this is where they’re heading on Smile, I’m absolutely on board.
Not a metal album, but not boring either
Big Tings isn’t metal. It barely registers as heavy, most of the time. But it’s got charm. It's got attitude. And more importantly, it makes sense when you imagine it live—with a crowd, with lights, with chaos.
And that’s where I’m placing my hopes for Wacken. Because if there’s one thing Skindred have always had going for them, it’s the live shows. That, and the unshakable confidence to whoop into a microphone like it’s a war cry.