PROTECTOR - A Shedding of Skin LP
Olly Wiebel - Vocals, Guitars
Ede Belichmeier – Bass
Michael Hasse (R.I.P. 1994) - Drums
-Intro
-Mortuary Nightmare
-A Shedding of Skin
-Face Fear
-Retribution on Darkness
-Doomed to Failure
-Thy Will Be Done
-Whom Gods Destroy
-Necropolis
-Tantalus
-Death Comes Soon
-Unleashed Terror
-Towards Destruction
1st-4th pressing: SOLD OUT!
5th pressing: AVAILABLE
mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel/ Temple of Disharmony
Protector’s third full-length album starts off with a peaceful intro… wait, is that a bird singing? But no, don’t let yourself be deceived – “A Shedding of Skin” is a most lethal and savage piece of thrash metal madness: It gives us thirteen tracks of most refined, most extreme and ripping thrash metal, constantly keeping up the highest level of thrash metal craftsmanship - just listen to the brutally well executed title track and you know what I am talking about! This album is an impressive display of Protector’s very own blend of thrash and death metal influences that made the three-piece from Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony a force in its own right.
Wait, three-piece? Yes, indeed: On “A Shedding of Skin”, guitarist Olly Wiebel had also taken over vocal duties, what reduced Protector to the typical power trio format, now consisting of Olly together with bassist Ede Belichmeier and drummer Michael Hasse (R.I.P. 1994).
The savage masterpiece was recorded during August 1991 at the Musik LAB Studio in Berlin. The songs for “A Shedding…” were written, rehearsed and recorded by Olly Wiebel and Michael Hasse. During the recording process, the two were assisted by Matze Grün, who later would join Protector to replace Ede Belichmeier, and Ken Kennedy of Criminal Justice fame (some might also know him from his short stint with Tankard). “A Shedding of Skin” was first released by Major Records International.
Soundwise there is nothing “A Shedding of Skin” leaves to wish for, which is due to the man responsible for the recordings: For their third album Protector worked together with Harris Johns, one of the most prolific European music producers for rock and metal, who also worked for and together with Kreator, Voivod, Tankard and Sodom… – just check out the impressive list of albums he has to his name. Olly Wiebel puts it simply: “Working with Harris Johns was great, very professional, and you definitely can hear that on the record. I think that ‘A Shedding of Skin’ is a real masterpiece.”
The release was followed by a small tour together with Funeral Nation and Ravenous, for which Matze Grün already took over the bass position. The shows were all well-attended and the album received a mass of enthusiastic reviews. German Rockhard called it “a great leap forward”, especially with regard to the songwriting and – no wonder – to the sound quality. Parallels were drawn between Protector and French outfit Massacra, as Protector were now leaning even more to the death metal side of things. Olly Wiebel’s vocal performance was compared to Nick Holmes (Paradise Lost) and Martin von Drunnen (Asphyx).
For the re-release on High Roller, “A Shedding of Skin” has been especially re-mastered for vinyl by Patrick W. Engel at Temple of Disharmony. Olly is certain that both old and new fans will like this release very much, especially as it will come with yet another bunch of previously unreleased pictures from the Protector archives.
Ulrike Schmitz
Damn these guys really know how to thrash. They borrowed many elements from death metal, teutonic thrash, bay area thrash, and blended it together to make such an incredible riff heavy, technical album. The way this album comes out is like a tank just crushing everything in it's path. This album is technical, thrashy, brutal, and catchy as hell. What more could you ask from a thrash record? The production from Harris Johns is crystal clear and still holds up to this day compared to the ultra digital, ultra processed, death/thrash recordings of today's modern times. Everything is really clear compared to the muddiness of Morrisound Studios. You should know him from classics such as Pleasure to Kill, Agent Orange, Dawn of Possession, Persecution Mania, as well as Consuming Impulse. He also has this beast under his belt so anyway let's get on to the instrumentation.
Olly Wiebel is the star of this album. How come no one ever talks about this guy as one of the greatest front men ever? It's just crazy. This guy plays lead guitar with insanely fast solos, he plays frantic riffs, and he puts on one of the most batshit insane singing performances ever. He shrieks, growls, rasps, with such speed and intensity throughout that when you hear him you feel he is actually a deranged lunatic from hell. He also plays such technical riffs and solos on top of that. Wow, that is impressive beyond belief. His riffs are very diverse all across the board from really thrashy/catchy bay area sounding thrash riffs, to pure death metal riffs, sludgy heavy as fuck riffs, teutonic thrash riffs, as well as some clean guitar interludes to give you a break from the onslaught of insane thrash so you don't die of overkill. His vocals might be even more insane one moment he belts out a tortured sounding shriek, then a raspy black metal style of singing, then he can belt out some seriously guttural lows (as demonstrated on Thy Will Be Done) that would put most death metal vocalists to shame, unbelievable. His lead work is crazy fast as well as technically proficient not just mindless shredding on the fret board.
We can't forget Michael Hasse on drums. His drum work is fantastic as well. His drumming reminds me heavily of Craig Smilowski of early immolation in the way he blasts, very fast and brutal in approach but slightly less crazy on tom and snare fills, but still impressive no less. He also plays a diverse range of styles from pure blasting, to straight grooving and letting the music breath. That's one thing that makes him standout, he knows how to let the music breath and flow instead of blasting non stop at a thousand miles an hour compared to some of these new metal band drummers that just never stop. For example guys like Tony Laureano are very good and technical but he has to play a fill like every three seconds in some of the older Nile records and he just never lets the music flow. Michael Hasse lets the music flow and he knows when to go crazy.
Last but not least if you enjoy the heavier end of thrash such as Sodom, Kreator, Demolition Hammer, even Malevolent Creation you will love this album. If your idea of thrash is stuff like Anthrax, Megadeth, early Exodus this might be a little too much for you because of its brutality and super sonic speed. This album is incredibly underrated and extremely difficult to find but if you do find it you will be in thrash heaven. It's sad these guys never went anywhere, they were on top of their game at this point, but it will remain in the underground and be found by those who seek to find such gems. Standout tracks include almost every track and the weakest tracks are the last three they feel like filler. Other than that on this album you get a huge range of diversity on the tracks and is filled with catchy riffs, technicality, and heaviness. Only downside is that there's no bass presence anywhere on this album. Incredible that only two people played on this album regardless. Buy this album if you can fantastic record all around.