American act Skeletal Remains prepare another death metal assault on Fragments of the Ageless for Century Media. The line-up of Chris Monroy (guitars/vocals), Mike De La O (guitars), Pierce Williams (drums), and Brian Rush (bass) embody the genre, going deeper, darker, and to the edges of brutality. The long-awaited follow-up to The Entombment of Chaos (2020) is pinned by four crushing singles “Void of Despair,” “To Conquer the Devout,” “Relentless Appetite,” and “Verminous Embodiment.”

“Fragments of the Ageless is a pummeling slab of pure death metal,” says the band. “A tyrannical blast-laden barrage of no-frills riffs and compositions. Everything about this album is f*cking brutal and in your face.”

Skeletal Remains wrote Fragments of the Ageless between European and US tours/festivals with Emperor, Morbid Angel, Mortician, Left to Die, and Defeated Sanity among others. The songwriting sessions were characterized by a no-limit mindset, where creativity and known genre rituals were given equal footing. The outcome was not just a definitive death metal showpiece—exemplified by “Void of Despair” and “Verminous Embodiment”—but an evolution.

“We took things up a notch and really dialed in on the technicality and ever-increasing intensity while still maintaining catchiness,” the group says. “With each new record, we strive to better ourselves in our musicianship and songwriting capabilities. On one end, we’ve increased in density and brutality, and on the other, we wrote a few songs with longer and more ‘epic’ structures.”

The lyrical themes of Fragments of the Ageless span folklore, science fiction, history, and personal struggle. They were inspired by the striking Dan Seagrave (Entombed, Memoriam) cover art. The album was co-produced by the band and studio maven Dan Swanö (Opeth, Incantation), who also mixed and mastered.

Death metal’s not dead with Fragments of the Ageless. It’s never been deadlier!