Review: Disciple – Skeleton Psalms Deluxe

Disciple’s 2023 album Skeleton Psalms has recently dropped digitally as a deluxe edition. What used to be simply ten tracks, is now an expanded twenty-two tracks.

Many bands have done a release and then followed it with a subsequent deluxe version, though many times it is done years later, and the additional tracks tend to be things like unfinished or unreleased studio materials, maybe some non-album b-side tracks; while other times it may be demo or unmastered/unfinished material, and maybe some live tracks from the era. It has been done in many different ways over the years.

Disciple did a similar release with their 2019 release Love Letter Kill Shot, when they dropped a deluxe edition a year after the initial release which that contained three additional studio tracks. In the case of this deluxe release of Skeleton Psalms, they pulled out all the stops, adding a whopping twelve additional tracks.

The new additions include four new studio tracks: Make War, If You Say So, Neversleep, and Sound the Alarm, none of which are subpar, throw away, unfinished or demo recordings. We get all studio high-quality additional tracks on the same level as the original release. Actually, all are high-energy hard rockers on top of that.

Also included here is an additional, fresh updated version of the album track Resurrecting Reasons which now features additional vocal work from TJ Harris of Decyfer Down fame, which they also made a video for it.

Also included now is a new acoustic version of the album track Promise to Live, as well as the addition of six high-quality live recordings from the Skeleton Psalms tour, including songs from the album itself – The Executioner, Skeleton Psalm, Promise to Live, I Just Know, Long Live the Rebels, and O God Save Us All.

The released dropped at the end of April, but only on digital platforms currently, but there has been the promise of forthcoming physical product releases on both CD and vinyl.

Now, time for the gripes with deluxe editions in general. NOTE: this is my personal option, and does not necessarily represent the staff or leadership of Heaven’s Metal Magazine (haha, sounds all official). And I will say from the start, the complaint is rarely a band decision, and so the “blame” typically falls more on the shoulders of the label. Also, this gripe is only really an issue for those of us who are physical product purchasers (and even then, mainly only affects those of us with a completist compulsion).

A deluxe edition like this, if reissued physically in the same manner that it is presented digitally, would require those who physically purchased the initial release, to sink additional money into buying the same main product a second time in order to get the additional material. Many people see this as a money-grab action for the label. This is somewhat more “painful” when it is done so relatively close to the initial release.

Now, this situation could be easily eliminated if this new material was released physically as a totally separate product. A Skeleton Psalms Supplemental titled release of sorts. In other words, simply release the physical product on CD and vinyl, but have it only include the new material. This will allow for a reduced sale price and avoids causing the purchasing of the same material a second time.

Just saying, there are options that are possible and would make this additional material available physically without the extra cost needing to be charged for material already previously purchased, that’s what should be considered. For digital purchasers, they have the option of just purchasing only the new tracks separately. But it feels like a sort of punishment on physical collectors who have already usually paid much more for physical (verses digital) products, and then are required to pay more again to acquire the same material twice in order to get the supplemental material too.

Physical purchasing is down in the music world, so why make it an even more costly penalty on those who do?

Sadly, those, like me, who do have a more completist “addiction” will end up buying and rebuying the same material, and who knows, maybe that is the target audience for these releases. Or maybe it is not intentional at all, and is simply an oversight on the label’s planning committee, and they need to consider this gripe in the future. Who knows. Sadly, I’ll probably rebuy it, because the material presented here is indeed worth it.

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