SKULL156

Posted on June 5, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

DIVINE HERESY, Bleed the Fifth (2007, Roadrunner)

The skull:
In a squalid restroom, a skull is jammed full of wires and gauges and shit, while he chomps down toothlessly on a grenade. There’s no bleeding going on, but presumably that grenade is ensuring the skull’s right to remain silent. Score another victory for the rights of the accused! This is not a very pretty cover, but it looks like someone went to the trouble of finding a good replica skull and going to town on it with rusty ric-a-brac and the hot glue gun, which is an artistic process The Council fully endorses. The arts-and-crafts method of cover creation is a sadly fading tradition, especially in the BDS realm, where handmade skulls once ruled the roost.

The music:
After he quit Fear Factory, Dino Cazares assembled Divine Heresy to play exactly the same kind of music he was making before. The differences are minor: Tim Yeung’s drumming is slightly less quantized than Raymond Herrera’s. Dino’s riffs are (very) occasionally a little noodlier. Tommy Vext’s (aka Cummings) death vocals are notably crappier than Burton Bell’s, while his clean vocals are at least a little more consistent. Other than that, if you’ve heard Fear Factory, you can easily imagine what Divine Heresy sounds like. I really enjoyed the first three Fear Factory albums (although they haven’t aged especially well) but the band lost me with the flaccid Digimortal, and while the post-Dino band put out some competent albums, the real Fear Factory magic (such as it is) is clearly in Dino’s hands, and this first Divine Heresy disc is probably the best of the post-Obsolote offerings from the FF camp. Hardly essential, but if you’re in the mood for Dino’s unique sound, this is a fine offering.
— Friar Johnsen

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

SKULL153

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

PHONOMIK, Soul Creeper (2010, Nightmare)

The skull:
If I’m mistaken, this is a first for Big Dumb Skulls: an underwater skull. Yes, I joked that SKULL38 might be peering out of a submarine, but there’s no denying that this fella here is hanging out under the sea. Probably somewhere in the Caribbean, considering the clear turquoise water and white sands. Then again, I guess this might not even be a real skull, but one of those ceramic ones sold at pet shops to decorate your aquarium. It’s a niche accessory catering to the thin sliver of overlap in the Venn diagram of tropical fish and vampire enthusiasts.

The music:
I was really expecting shitty death metal when I started spinning Phonomik, so it was quite a surprise to find that they’re a quirky, kind of funky progressive metal band with a unique sound, good vocals, and catchy songs. Wonders never cease! Their sound is very modern, with downtuned guitar and a distinctly nu cadence to the vocals, inviting comparisons to both Evergrey and Fair to Midland. The singing is a bit nasal, but it still works for me, and with songs built around strong vocal hooks and an almost playful bouyancy from the keys, Phonomik have a winning formula on their hands. I would like a little more activity in the guitar riffing, but that risks looking the gift horse in the mouth, so I’ll just content myself with the unexpected small pleasures afforded me.
— Friar Johnsen

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

SKULL149

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

KATAKLYSM, Serenity in Fire (2004, Nuclear Blast)

The skull:
It’s been a while since the last real Photoshop abomination here at Skull HQ, so this truly abysmal effort is almost a welcome reminder of just how fucking dumb a skull can be. Really, it’s hard to imagine how the snake here could look less like it was actually coiled in and around the skull, which is itself glowing, for some reason, and nearly transparent, for some other reason. The (serene?) fire is terrible, and the crosses (also mysteriously transluscent) look like stone and shouldn’t be burning at all. And of course, the background and general palette are best described as “warm shades of brown.” When all these shitty digital collage covers were coming out in the mid aughts, I guarantee every band that used them thought they were so fucking badass, but I thought, “In ten years, these will all look completely ridiculous.” I was totally right.

The music:
There are some albums on the great list of big dumb skulls that completely intimidate me as they heave into view on the spreadsheet. It’s not because the albums are sure to be terrible; terrible albums are the most fun to review. And it’s not because the albums are so good that adequately capturing their excellence in a 200 word review is paralyzingly daunting; that basically never happens with skull albums. It’s because these discs, which are usually released by one of the bigger metal labels, are so middle of the road, so predictable, so completely as-expected that it’s nearly impossible to muster the energy to even listen to them, let along write about them. Serenity in Fire, it won’t surprise you to read, is a perfect example of this phenomenon. Modern Kataklysm (defined as post-Victims of This Fallen World) are not a terrible band by any stretch, but there’s absolutely nothing about them that appeals to me. They sound like pretty much every other legacy death metal band, somewhere in the middle of Morbid Angel, Deicide, and Immolation, with an occasional nod to European melodic death. All these bands have terrible triggered drums and singers trying entirely too hard to sound like evil men. They all abuse the privilege of pinch harmonics and blast for no good reason. But, they all more or less write “songs” in a traditional sense, and for this reason alone I should at least sort of appreciate them, when so many of today’s death metal bands dispense with arrangement altogether in favor of a formless sequence of interchangeable riffs. I don’t, though; I just can’t bring myself to give a shit about Kataklysm and their ilk. They bore me to death, ever and anon. And so, even though I forced myself to listen to this entire fucking album, I just can’t muster the energy to say anything specific about it. It came and it went, leaving nothing in its wake.
— Friar Johnsen

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

SKULL147

Posted on May 27, 2013 by Friar Johnsen

RECIPIENTS OF DEATH, Recipients of Death (1988, Wild Rags)

The skull:
A standard issue horny skull impaled on an upside down cross. This whole thing screams “1988!” One thing that I do like about hand-drawn covers like this is how the logo and the title are worked in as components of the art. No Photoshop layers here: you get it all in one glorious shot. I wonder, was this photocopied straight off someone’s textbook wrapper (do kids still wrap their books?), or was it redrawn from that original and inked in sharpie for the final art? The skull-cross, evidently the band’s totem or mascot, would make a second appearance on the band’s next, and last release, this time in a much finer, painted form, but where’s the charm in that?

The music:
As goes the cover, so too, the music: this is as generic a slab of late 80s Angelino thrash as you could imagine. Dark Angel is a good starting point, with a little Slayer thrown in for good measure, although I do detect a tiny hint of the groove that would creep into thrash as the 90s approached, especially from up the coast, and more than a hint of California hardcore. The playing is decent and the production is more than good enough, especially for a Wild Rags release. The vocals are the weak link, naturally, delivered with a crossover sneer obviously modeled after Kurt Brecht. When the basketball beat goes full-court-press, these overly wordy, barked vocals really underscore the monotony of the material. There’s a reason why this band only managed to eke out a couple EPs, but I’d still rather listen to this than Municipal Waste or Toxic Holocaust.
— Friar Johnsen