SKULL39

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

HAEMORRHAGE, The Kill Sessions (2007, Emetic)

The skull:
Half a skull (probably cribbed from a textbook or something), set to the far left of a black background, and adorned with a rusty blood splatter on the forehead. One wonders how it was decided that half a skull was better than a whole skull. Did the graphic designer not know how to resize his skull clip art? When he realized the image he had was going to take up the entire cover, he realized he also didn’t know how to get the logo over the skull without blacking out the entire rectangle (since the logo had a black backgound). So, he moved the skull over to make room for the logo and title. Perfecto!

The music:
A live-in-the-studio recording of fan-selected tunes, The Kill Sessions is as inessential as its cover is inept. Given the name and the logo, it should come as no surprise that Haemorrhage are a straight-up Carcass clone, working the Reek and Symphonies beat without any interest in advancing the story. There’s a youthful vitality to those early Carcass records, and a playfulness that goes a long way toward redeeming the occasionally hilarious sloppiness of the proceedings. Haemorrhage, it can be said, play their instruments better than Bill, Jeff, and Ken did on that first album, but they certainly don’t eclipse their heroes’ sophomore-album performances, and if there is any ironic fun hiding in Haemorrhage’s lyrics (I didn’t bother to check), there’s none of the Carcassian cheek in Haemorrhage’s music. There have been some great Carcass clones over the years (Impaled, and to a lesser extent, Exhumed come to mind), but far, far more pointless ones, and while Haemorrhage are hardly the worst of their kind, there’s not much more value in being in the middle of the pointless many.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL38

Posted on February 7, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

CYCLONE, Brutal Destruction (1986, Roadrunner)

The skull:
So debonair, this monocled skull! His weirdly missing mandibles only reinforce the jut of his privileged jaw. The setting of the image is a bit obscure, though; you would expect a fellow this dapper to be peering out the porthole of his luxury cabin on a deluxe oceanliner in the nineteen-teens, but the finish of the metal strongly suggests a submarine or other military vessel. Perhaps he is aboard a German U-boat, and is in the process of sinking one of those deluxe oceanliners. That might explain the monocle (Colonel Klink’s father: naval hero of the Great War). Or maybe he is, in fact, on a passenger ship but at the bottom of the north Atlantic, himself a victim of the Kaiser’s sea-might. That would account for his skeletality, at least. Is he the victim, or the dealer, of brutal destruction? Dead skulls tell no tales!

The music:
Cyclone’s second album, Inferior to None is a catchy, well written thrash albums with a hint of melody. Brutal Destruction, however, is a rather dull slab of by-the-numbers teutonic speed metal (even though the band were Belgian). Think: just about anything on Mausoleum Records in 1984, or maybe early Deathrow or Warrant (the German one). I will say, I do miss those early days of thrash, before the vocals calcified into an entirely unmelodic affair. Sure, Guido Gevels usually just tunelessly barked out his lyrics, but the occasional pitched scream or melodic fillip goes a long way toward enlivening what is some terribly generic proto-thrash. “In the Grip of Evil” has an unusually swinging drum beat and some catchy sped-up NWOBHM leanings, and the tasteless “Incest Love” (what was it with thrash bands and incest songs?) has an interesting intro riff that sounds like a rejected Mustaine lick, but in general, the highlights are few and far between on this album, and when in the mood for knuckleheaded speed metal, I’ll probably reach for Atlain or Brainfever instead.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL37

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Friar Wagner

CORONER, Death Cult (1986, demo)

The skull:
This artwork makes an exception to the Big Dumb Skulls “No Skulls” rule of “There shall be one and only one skull on the cover, or it shall not be considered for induction into the Skullection.” (Para. 1, Sec. 3, Vol. 1 of the Bylaws of the Council of the Elders of the Skull, 2010, rev. Dec. 2012) It was decided that Coroner’s extraordinary dedication to the skull, via their “tripartite” skull, which adorns all of their releases, would be taken into account. Also taken into account — and I quote from the meeting minutes of December 4th, 2011, upon the Council’s deadlocked, 17-hour-long discussion of the Death Cult artwork: “Lo, shall it also be considered with no small amount of gravity, that Friars Wagner and Johnsen are indeed great supporters of the Swiss trio. Do take this into account in reaching your verdict.” Ultimately it was decided on a 5-4 vote that Death Cult would take place as Skull37 in the Skullection. We love its traditional black-and-white, no-nonsense skulliness, and the little skulls lining the collar underneath the main skull’s neck look more like a necklace than other real skulls. Whatever, we’re happy to have this one in the Skullection. Ridiculous? No! This is important!

The music:
After all the fuss and bother above, this Friar always felt Death Cult inferior to the five official albums released by Coroner between 1987 and 1993. It’s interesting that none of its four songs made 1987’s R.I.P. debut, nor should they have: it’s a different-sounding Coroner, slower and more in the traditional metal vein, something that can be likened to a mixture of Mercyful Fate meets Celtic Frost. It’s a fascinating look into the band’s foundational early days, but we all know it’s those successive albums that make this band the gods they are to many a demanding metal enthusiast.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL36

Posted on February 5, 2013 by Friar Wagner

The skull:
Candlemass provide great examples of the fine line between artful skullery and boring skullery. The image on their debut album, Epicus Doomicus Metallicus, is certainly one of the finest heads ever to be defleshed and paraded to the metal masses. It’s one of the most iconic skulls in metal, and they have regurgitated it a lot. This skull, however, is just kinda there. It’s got an ancient-enough look to it, with a little crown atop its noggin. It would be a much more striking cover if we hadn’t seen, you know, 4,562 skull album covers before it. And no, we’re not complaining. Just sayin’.

The music:
King of the Grey Islands is probably the best of the Robert Lowe-era Candlemass albums — an era that has apparently come to pass, as he was booted for poor live performances. It’s also the first they recorded with the Solitude Aeturnus frontman, and while I like Lowe on the first few S.A. albums, and certainly here too, I always wished they would have gotten Mats Leven or Epicus singer Johan Langquist for the job. Still, the material is pretty great, especially highlights like “Of Stars and Smoke” and “Clearsight.” Album closer “Embrace the Styx” rams home that epic doom metal element the band christened and basically founded way back in the day. Great stuff.
–Friar Wagner

SKULL35

Posted on February 4, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

SINISTER REALM, Sinister Realm (2008 demo)

The skull:
A tasteful pen and ink skull with wings. Actually, on closer inspection, are those wings or an imperially windswept skullet of the most literal kind? Either way, what are all the scribbly doodles in the background? This is a nice but incredibly generic image, better suited to a motorcycle club logo/backpatch than an album cover, even if it’s only a demo. Then again, who has money for proper and meaningful art before landing a lucrative deal with a deep-pocketed heavy metal record label?

The music:
Sinister Realm are from around my neck of the woods, and I’ve seen them live a number of times. I haven’t been able to locate a copy of the demo to review, but I believe I streamed it when it was new, and I’ve heard all of these songs live and on the band’s self-titled debut (which also features a wicked skull, even if it’s not quite big enough). Their traditional metal with flashes of ploddy doom can get old rather quickly on stage, but on disc, it works, more or less. Like an Americanized Candlemass, Sinister Realm trade in Sabbathy riffs and full-throated operatic vocals, with the added touch of some Maidenesque guitar harmonies. At times, not much distinguishes one song from the next, especially in the vocal melodies (an endemic problem of doom, in this Friar’s opinion), but Sinister Realm are just good enough on their instruments, at the mic, and in the studio that the occasionally lackluster songwriting is hidden under a sheen of professionalism. For a band that’s often tacked onto the bill of touring acts I want to see, this is about as good as I could possibly hope for.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL34

Posted on February 3, 2013 by Friar Wagner

GOD FORBID, Sickness and Misery (Koch, 2007)

The skull:
“Peekaboo, I see you!” says this cute doe-eyed dome of bone. And it literally is a dome depicted on the cover, as we can’t even see its lower portion. Seems the skull is just escaping the trap of barbed wire laid out behind him. Look out, buddy!

The music:
This thing collects 1998’s Out of Misery and 2000’s Reject the Sickness. God Forbid’s early material seems to lean on the metal side of metalcore, and though they’re hardly lacking in musical talent, I always thought God Forbid were pretty damn generic, even if they’re now credited is being forefathers of “deathcore” or whatever. Since this is a collection of early material and not a proper album, it’s no wonder whoever in charge over at Koch thought “let’s slap a skull on the cover. The kids love that shit.” Uh…next!!!
— Friar Wagner

SKULL33

Posted on February 2, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

RUNEMAGICK / LORD BELIAL, Doomed by Death (2002, Aftermath)

The skull:
Including File > New, this cover could be made in Photoshop in five steps. File > New, gradient fill, paste skull, set layer blending options, insert text. If this took more than 15 minutes to create, it’s because the guy in one of the bands who made it had to download a cracked version of Adobe Creative Suite first. It could only have taken longer if the jawless skull had to be cut out of the cover to the Lunatics Without Skateboards, Inc. album. Which would be awesome.

The music:
I had never heard Runemagick before, and I’m not sure the track I listened to is actually from this split, but it’s the same song at least, and it’s not half bad! A sort of Candlemassy doom with death vocals and some interesting textural clean guitars. Color me surprised! Lord Belial I hadn’t heard since the late 90s, and I definitely didn’t care for them then, although a good friend of mine has a weakness for their debut album, which is pink. Again, I can’t be sure if the track I’ve heard is from this split (there are several versions of the song on YouTube, but none indicate this split as the provenance), and as with Runemagick, I’m pleasantly surprised at how listenable it is. From the cover, I expected this to be the worst sort of shit, but this is pretty well composed, mid-paced black metal, heavy on the atmospherics, with some great riffs and a really good solo. Sure, this sounds like dozens of other Swedish bands, and this style is not exactly in my wheelhouse, but I was hardly in a hurry for it to end. Both tracks are well produced (again, assuming I’m listening to the right ones) and good enough to make me think I should dig a little deeper into these bands’ discographies. The power of the skull works in mysterious ways!
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL32

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Friar Wagner

MASSGRAV, Still the Kings (2012, Selfmadegod)

The skull:
Looks like a really good drawing of a really good photo of a really good skull. It’s big and bold and extremely proud to be a big dumb skull. Probably a product of the band not really sure what to depict in relation to the album title. This is crusty thrashing grindcore sort of stuff, and Massgrav is not the kind of band that would depict themselves on thrones with crowns on their heads or any sort of thing like that. The triangle behind the skull gives an added symmetry to the design, maybe suggesting “pyramid power” (remember that?), maybe not.

The music:
Crust punk and grindcore are obnoxious forms of extreme music, but there’s a thick dividing wall between obnoxious in the jokey sense and obnoxious in the “this is absurdly fast and heavy” sense. Massgrav fit into the latter compartment, firing off short round after short round of angry, belligerent, inspired crust/grind. Like a punkier, thrashier Nasum, maybe. Simple, serious and to the point, like the skullwork on the cover.
— Friar Wagner