When it comes to performing live under the pseudonym Skin For a Canvas Ian Mortimer likes to keep things stripped back with just his acoustic guitar and wonderful vocals, but for new project Drop Oblivion it’s a case of returning to a love of metal and the opportunity to bring in more components to the music whilst giving Mortimer an excuse to scream his lungs out.
As it stands Drop Oblivion is another solo project, written alongside Skin For a Canvas material with Mortimer performing all parts on the record with the exception of pulling in drummers and the occasional assistance for lyrical content – although you need to wonder where the rap about tea and muffins came from in the middle of “You’re F*cked”.
Whilst there’s a slight tongue in cheek approach to a number of songs on offer such as “Sweet Little Skitzo” being entwined with comedy piano pieces and the “Wiggle Wiggle” cover being all rather unnecessary, there are several moments where To Hell We March is focussed purely on being seriously heavy.
With its Fear Factory style production “Pretty Little Hell” is one of the albums highlights and shows there’s more to Drop Oblivion than the acoustic singer/songwriter of Skin For a Canvas, whilst “Passing by” utilises keyboards again for a short interlude before “Roadkill” provides another brutally intense track, after all it’s the more serious pieces on the record that are worthy of an album in their own right.
There’s currently a plan in place to bring Drop Oblivion to the stage, so with Skin For a Canvas being the more relaxed side to the man behind the name it will be interesting to see the transformation of Ian Mortimer when given the chance to shout, start a mosh pit and indeed march into hell.
https://soundcloud.com/drop-oblivion/roadkill
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