Handover

With a title inspired by its old label having to hand over the band’s album rights and assets, Skinny Puppy’s 11th studio album keeps the industrial fires burning. Though some of the ambience and avant-noise created by cEvin Key resonates with recognition, hanDover is a forward-thinking album of mechanical songcraft. The opening track, “Ovirt”, exemplifies this near-perfect balance of familiarity and innovation; some of the band’s stock synth tones and sequenced beats are reworked into a new, constantly unfolding framework. Ogre’s scratchy, sinister inflections sound largely unchanged, as if frozen in time. This is first noticeable in the second track, “Cullorblind”, which is confidently anchored to memorable melodies. It’s the most accessible song on the album (if not in the band’s entire discography). The standout track “AshAs” is an automated dirge that mourns and celebrates the life of the band’s late friend and crew member Sasha Coon (the title is an anagram of his first name).