SKULL162

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Friar Wagner

MALICIOUS ONSLAUGHT, Thrashed Black (1988, demo)

The skull:
Crude lo-brow artwork here, but it’s a death/thrash demo cassette from 1988, what do you expect? This poor guy is hanging on desperately to his remaining eye and hoping for no more damage. Here’s been through enough already. An eye out and a cleaved skull that slices his head from the upper left side almost clean through to the opposite eye. There’s hardly a demo cover more crudely cult-looking than this!

The music:
I love all those old bands whose name or album title tried to exactly describe their music. Albums like Extreme Aggression or Intense Brutality. Thanks for letting us know! Does Malicious Onslaught deliver a malicious onslaught? Yes they do! It’s pretty raw, which is appropriate for what they’re doing: a fusion of Show No Mercy-era Slayer with the caffeinated aggression of early Sadus and R.A.V.A.G.E. Only without the same skill level. You can hear these guys are pretty green on this tape. It’s a bit junky, a bit malnourished. But I like it. An otherworldly vocal approach would have worked better — this dude sounds too hardcore, in the D.R.I. vein. More Petrozza and less Brecht would’ve been cool. There’s a weird part in “Revenge of the Innocent” that brings in a cosmic element, followed by a short passage that gets back into metal but stays weird, then it goes all too quickly back to thrashing and crashing. Interesting stuff that I’d recommend to fans of the aforementioned bands, and anyone into madcap Florida band Hellwitch too. Glad I stumbled upon this — it’s not as bad as expected. I thought maybe it would be second-rate death metal or clunky necro black metal, considering the labels that later released their records (JL America and Unisound, respectively), but it’s more interesting than that, and a little weird at times. They did change quite a bit by the time of the death-swamped Brutal Gore album (more truth in advertising), but Thrashed Black is just good harmless intensity. Some of the clumsy playing actually adds to the strangeness and charm.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL160

Posted on June 9, 2013 by Friar Wagner

IN BATTLE, In Battle (1997, Napalm)

The skull:
A skull floats through a cemetery, possibly haunting the burial grounds and its groundkeepers who could not actually bury him because his entire body was so damn big. Unless this skull somehow grew to become as wildly out of proportion as pictured. The ghost-skull is so laughably big, I picture him clumsily knocking around from headstone to headstone like a pinball slamming into bumpers. “Oops, sorry!” “Excuse me!” Or maybe he’s not haunting at all, but instead trying to eat that big headstone. Why the carved sliver of bone lodged vertically through the nose and coming out the roof of the mouth? Might be a toothpick and, lacking hands or pockets, this is where he has to put it. What a totally great album cover.

The music:
On their first album, Marduk were apparently quite a big influence on these Swedes, as this 12-song album blazes by in a flurry of hyperspeed drum beats, blurry guitar hurricanes and seething vocal screeching. Prototypical pure Swedish black metal. Marduk, Setherial, Blodsrit, Dark Funeral…you know the deal. But In Battle does have some differences. A song such as “Ruler of the Northern Sphere” features an almost folk-like melody, giving the material a sliver of depth, and “Doom of the Unbeloved” revolves around slightly slower (or, less fast) and more hypnotic spaces that recall the sound of classic Norwegian black metal. Overall it’s well-played and genuine, yet despite the attempts to inject some variety, it gets pretty boring after a couple songs.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL158

Posted on June 7, 2013 by Friar Wagner

FACESHIFT, Chokehold (2007, Black Lodge)

The skull:
Classy cover. Logo and artwork bordered in rectangle and square, it’s all about an
orderly aesthetic. The skull hangs in a mist of various shades of gray, wearing an afro of dead trees. Sorta like a Chia Pet skull for the goth metal set. It’s an interesting and somewhat creative piece of art. A different sort of image from the norm we usually see ’round these parts.

The music:
From looking at the artwork, the band name, the label and the members’ origins, I assumed this would be melodic death metal. And it sorta is, just minus the death. Faceshift plays melodic metal that sounds like a mixture of latter-day Sentenced and newer Nocturnal Rites, only not as good, and with a vocalist that has absolutely no edge whatsoever. This is a single, so the only song it offers is “Chokehold.” It’s a polite stab at accessible, infectious melodic metal, but far too nice and harmless, lacking any kind of depth. Very “assembly line” in its approach and dull mid-paced momentum. This song is, in fact, so incredibly squeaky clean it’s barely metal. The dudes come from a heavier and longer-running band called Eternal Oath, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and allow them into the hallowed halls of Big Dumb Skulls. The ultimate verdict: cool artwork for a pretty weak song. Incidentally, this song also appears on their Reconcile album, which features two skulls joined by the same sort of dead trees seen on the cover of this single. Continuity, man, continuity.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL155

Posted on June 4, 2013 by Friar Wagner

CONQUEROR, War Cult Supremacy (2011, Nuclear War Now!)

The skull:
This album was originally released in 1999 with a different, non-skull cover. The one pictured here is from the Nuclear War Now box set reissue, and we like it a lot. Yet, as feral as Conqueror’s music is, it’s sort of a dopey looking cover…the single strand of barbed wire is not very threatening, and the skull itself is an oblong, flattened dome, looking kinda sad plopped on top of bones; appears to have belonged to a midget or dwarf. Even their logo is kinda lame. But still this cover — resplendent in fire engine red — somehow works well to communicate this band is no-bullshit death noise; you get that they’re not doing any Motley Crue covers or something equally as silly.

The music:
I have a deep love for primitive noise from late ’80s/early ’90s bands like Nuclear Death, Sarcofago, and Order From Chaos (their forebears being stuff like Voivod’s second album, early Sodom and Bathory’s second and third), so I really should be flipping out over Canada’s Conqueror. They attempted to carry on deathly metal noise in a similar vein, and while I respect what they’re doing, it’s so sharp and scathing and utterly monotonous that it ends up sounding like Sadistik Exekution and less like the more organic mess of the aforementioned earlier bands. But I can hang, and actually get more out of this album now than when it was originally released. It’s a blinding smear of piercing treble-drenched guitar and well-played drum blasts, with completely unhinged vocals that spit pure venom. The fact that Conqueror featured a member of the mighty Blasphemy provides a link between the earlier primitives and this newer strain of ridiculous intensity. The slightly more popular Revenge is essentially the successor band to Conqueror, but they’re even less interesting than Conqueror. Best song? “Kingdom Against Kingdom,” as it’s the most over-the-top, which is saying something on an album like this. They also do Slaughter and Sarcofago covers on this album, so you know they’re pretty damn committed to this insanity. By the end of its 46 minutes you’re completely fatigued and want to just sit in silence for a while.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL154

Posted on June 3, 2013 by Friar Wagner

PAGANIZER, Carve: Stillborn Revelations and Revel in Filth (Vic, 2012)

The skull:
Another Photoshop clutter of a skull embedded in all kinds of weird amorphous junk. This skull — a jolly happy one! — sits high amid weird black twisted tentacles or gooey strands of black licorice, while the red stuff around him looks like innards/guts/flesh. The floating eyeball is very Travis Smith-ish, and there is no reasonable explanation for the two human figures flanking this silly random mess. But just look at the boyish grin on that skull. He’s stoked!

The music:
Cruel, raw, brutal Swedish death metal with a mournful edge thanks to some somber melodies and slower tempos. There’s absolutely nothing here that could be considered essential, but like a lot of third-tier brutal SDM, this works well enough as supplement to the better bands of this ilk. This music was originally recorded under the band name Carve in ’02 and ’04 when two dudes from the long-running and prolific Paganizer were on hiatus from that band. And it pretty much sounds just like Paganizer. 20 songs, 76 minutes, blows by without much to remember it by, but if you like this style (I do) it works on some level. Well crafted? For sure. Pointless? Maybe. Totally lacking in variety? Absolutely!
— Friar Wagner

SKULL152

Posted on June 1, 2013 by Friar Wagner

DEBRIS INC., Debris Inc. (2005, Rise Above)

The skull:
A cracked skull lays in the abyss, surrounded for some unknown reason by a chaos symbol (a cluster of eight arrows pointing all directions). Why? We can have no idea. The band name, which is also the album title, gives no good indication for presenting the skull to us in this way. Maybe it’s because, you know, it’s a skullll, maaaan.

The music:
“Masterminded” by Trouble bassist Ron Holzner and Saint Vitus guitarist Dave Chandler, this might have been a good idea if the dudes stuck to doing the kind of doom they do best. But they didn’t. They decided Chandler could sing (he can’t, not even close), Ron also gets in on the act, and they thought playing “drunken doom punk” was a really good idea. It’s horrible. Every last second of this 14-song disaster is horrible. Sounds like 12-year-olds trying their hand at Eyehategod tunes. The worst record ever released on Rise Above, and the worst thing Ron and Dave have ever been involved with. A total disgrace. Zero out of 10 fucking skulls!
— Friar Wagner

SKULL151

Posted on May 31, 2013 by Friar Wagner

KRABATHOR, Dissuade Truth (2003, System Shock)

The skull:
Not quite sure how this big ol’ skull is dissuading the truth. What is the truth? Is it whatever’s written on the scraps of parchment shown on this cover? If these texts are the truth, how does a littering of rib cages, bones and this solitary big dumb skull dissuade it? It might be beyond our grasp, it might be beyond all earthly, human understanding. Which would make Krabathor the sole keepers of the secrets of the universe. And if that’s the truth, god help us all.

The music:
Dissuade Truth is this Czech band’s final album, Krabathor finally calling it a day over 15 years after after forming as Krabator (not sure why the extra “h” was eventually added). They appeared at a time when only serious metalheads were discovering this new form of music called death metal (1988) and I’ll bet if they came back here in 2013, they’d still be considered second-rate, despite their style being warmly welcomed right about now. Because they were always lackluster. Think Divine Empire or Jungle Rot — sturdy, simple, monochrome brutal death metal, nothing fancy, nothing overly technical, dry as a bone and totally unpretentious in its mission. Some cool guitar leads here and there that seem to come from the school of Schuldiner/Death, and a few good drum fills too. It’s certainly nothing egregiously bad. Master-mind Paul Speckmann was in the band by this time, but would you really be able to pick out his bass playing style if you hadn’t known this in advance? But go ahead, listen to the nine songs and 36+ minutes of Dissuade Truth. It’s easy to do, not at all taxing on the brain cells…enjoyable if you haven’t heard death metal for 10 years and want a reminder of its basic structure. But you probably want more than that, don’t you? I come away from this after final song “Saving of Mind” with some respect for their time in the trenches, but if it weren’t for having to review this for Big Dumb Skulls, I might have forgotten all about these guys.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL150

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Friar Wagner

HATEFUL AGONY, In the Name of God (2008, self-released)

The skull:
This skull is a martyr for all the world’s ills: a crown of thorns (or black stuff that sorta looks like thorns) sits atop his head as he sadly peers down at the futility of it all. Images of religion, money, guns and sheep are obvious or symbolic reminders that no matter what, oppression, greed, violence and conformity are comin’ ta get ya. All in the name of God, apparently.

The music:
These Germans first released music in 1998, and have self-released five albums since that time. This one is their fourth, and it kinda shows why they’ve never been on a label: they’re boring. They play fairly violent thrash with gruff, not-quite-deathly vocals, and everything you hear on the 11 songs of In the Name of God has been done before. Whether it’s a collision of Vio-lence and Kreator (“Son of Sam”) or Any-Given-Bay-Area-Thrash-Band meets Schizophrenia-era Sepultura (everything else), it comes off as competent but hardly mandatory or even important. Their influences can’t be disputed — I’ll gladly listen to all the originals, but Hateful Agony are just the sort of derivative thing I can’t get excited about. Hateful Agony seem a hapless but harmless trio of dudes out for a good time, some brews, and some early slots at mid-level festivals. Apparently they’re not super-ambitious, but hey, they can’t all be Vektor, right?
— Friar Wagner

SKULL148

Posted on May 28, 2013 by Friar Wagner

TAKASHI, Kamikaze Killers (1983, Mongol Horde)

The skull:
Third horny skull in a row for this friar, and those two pointy accoutrements are all that’s unique to this very basic skull face. It’s cast in a mold of solid steel, which might have been Takashi anticipating demand for mass-produced Takashi skull masks to sell at their sold out arenas shows around the globe. Or maybe a tribute to Han Solo’s rather unfortunate fate in that second Star Wars movie. (Or if you want to get all nerdy on me and correct me, “uh, that’s the fifth Star Wars movie.” Fine.)

The music:
Alas, Takashi didn’t quite have the goods to make it to the world’s biggest metal venues, but their music sure aspired to look and sound like big boys like Ratt and Motley Crue — with a bit of a harder edged sound. Not quite Omen or even Armored Saint, but they certainly wouldn’t have been out of place on the first Metal Massacre comp. Maybe a bit like Odin’s earliest stuff? Yeah, that works. All those California band references, even though Takashi hailed from New York City. Sure doesn’t sound like it. Adding to that, and typical of the era (unfortunately), the vocalist sounds like Vince Neil. This four-song EP was the band’s only release, and I don’t regret never picking it up in record stores first time around. Other than the $ I could probably flip it for these days.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL146

Posted on May 26, 2013 by Friar Wagner

RIPPER, Into Oblivion (2010, Blackwater)

The skull:
This could technically be disqualified as unworthy of BDS’s strict standards under the “no skulls” rule. This skull is carrying a kind of necklace of two smaller skulls, but they were ruled inconsequential in a controversial Council 5-4 ruling. Also note that since this skull has no neckbones, it can hardly be called a necklace. Just a couple skulls clinging to some sinew or spew handing off the main skull’s chin. The big skull itself is one horny bastard. Leering with evil intent isn’t enough to show his malicious intentions, so he has not one but two sets of horns, a smaller set and a ram-like helix, and with some junk dripping off everything, this bad boy is ready to rip. Great cover, we wholly approve!

The music:
This Portland band bring to mind the dirtier work of Chris Black, like a more melodic and traditional metal-slanted Superchrist with the fun energy of High Spirits. Raw and blazing with Motorhead-like speed, it’s the melodic component that really sells this. Like early Iron Maiden with a shot of punky attitude, the riffs and melody lines strangled out by the guitarist are played with a ton of enthusiasm, and while they’re melodies we’ve heard somewhere before, they do their job, giving Ripper a hard-to-dislike sort of appeal. I like the recording, very raw but not deficient in any area…it works perfectly for what they’re doing. The vocals also bring Chris Black to mind — nothing virtuosic, but sung from the gut and heart…and Lemmy-like, of course. Once you get to the middle of the album you realize Ripper is a one trick pony, but it’s a good trick, and it lasts no longer than it should (28 cozy minutes).
— Friar Wagner