SKULL455

SÓLSTAFIR, Black Death (2002, Ketzer)

The skull:
Designing an album cover to look like a liquor label is only clever to the likes of Zakk Wylde, which is to say it’s about as far from actually clever as can be imagined. The only redeeming quality of this jokey design is the downright prehistoric skull on display. With a lower jaw that could impress Nutcracker Man or Jay Leno, this guy looks ready to do some serious chompin’, not to mention some serious partyin’. He’s the sort of lovable oaf you can’t say no to, even if he shows up with a bunch of Icelandic dudes who habitually overstay their welcome.

The music:
Previously, I had only heard more recent Sólstafir records, where the band coast on one or two riffs for interminable lengths, “crafting” 13 minute songs out of raw materials suited for maybe a short intro, at best. I can appreciate, at least on paper, the vibe they try to summon (especially when Rhodes piano is involved), but in practice, those epic endurance tests masquerading as songs reek of hubris and laziness, not to mention a too-evident love of The Church. Fortunately, this early entry to the Sólstafir canon is a peppier, and more succinct, affair. Originally released as a demo but pared down by a couple songs for an EP release, Black Death is a slightly “folky” mix of black, death, and doom metal, played with energy and passion. I’m reminded in places, weirdly, of Hexx’s much-disparaged death metal period, in particular the excellent Morbid Reality. The post-whatever influences (-rock, -punk, so on) that dominate the band’s later albums are present here, but only as seasonings in a mostly metal stew. There’s definitely a spark here that, had I heard this 10 years ago, I would have taken as a sign of a band with big things to come, and I would have been right, I suppose, but the bigness, as it turned out, was not so much in the realm of great ideas, but in that of hype.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL97

OVERKILL L.A., Triumph of the Will (1985, SST)

The skull:
Another totenkopf, but look at the size of it! If you’re gonna appropriate Nazi iconography for your album cover, this the way to do it: big and dumb. The copper coloring is a nice touch, too: it tones down the monochromatic harshness that plagues so many totenkopf album covers, although to be fair, this is the earliest example of the form in the skullection. Every cliche was a good idea at one time.

The music:
It really does send some confusing signals to decorate your cover with the insignia of the SS, while also titling it after the infamous Leni Riefenstahl propaganda film glorifying Hitler and his government. Well, no: it sends the rather clear signal that your band are Nazi sympathizers. In this case, the confusion comes later, when you realize that Overkill L.A. (naturally, the geographical suffix was added only after a conflict with Overkill N.Y.) are not a Nazi, national socialist, or in any way racist band. In truth, they’re only barely metal, too, although there’s enough Motorhead in this degenerate west coast punk amalgam to pass muster with the Council. I guess the cover and title are just part and parcel of a punk predilection for provocation, because the lyrics don’t even seem to make much of a special anti-racist statement, either. Just your typical me-against-the-world snottiness typical of mid 80s west coast punk, with a touch of the toughness that would shortly come to define (sometimes parodically) American hardcore. Personally, I’ve known about this album forever, as it used to show up all the time in the record shop section otherwise reserved for the one true Overkill (another skull-loving group), and I’m sure I listened to at least a song of this at some point, but I never listened to the whole thing until now. It’s… not bad! I wouldn’t have liked it at all in the 80s, but as an older, wiser man, I can appreciate its grit and working class moxie. It’s not a great album, and seemingly every song is played at the same middle tempo, but if you like early Motorhead and can also get behind Black Flag and Social Distortion, you might love this.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL71

ACHERON, Satanic Supremacy (2008, Frozen Darkness Productions)

The skull:
Just the straight-up Totenkopf insignia of the Nazi SS. As if the association wasn’t obvious enough, the initial “S”es in the title are rendered in the sig runes used by the Schutzstaffel as well. You’d be forgiven for thinking Acheron were some kind of racist NS band, but as far as I know, they’re just ridiculous Satanists trying to make some kind of point.

The music:
Acheron is one of those bands that’s just always been around. I’ve been dutifully passing over their albums in used CD bins for my entire life as a heavy metal enthusiast. They’re hardly the worst band out there, but their no-frills, old school death metal just doesn’t so anything for me. When I tracked down some mp3s of this cassette, I initially assumed it was one of their early demos, maybe from the late 80s, before realizing this is, shockingly, a recording from 2008. It’s a cassette tape for fuck’s sake! From 2008. You’d never know it from the sound, or the music, or the lyrics, which are of high school quality, that this was produced so recently. It cannot be said that Acheron don’t stick to their guns, though, as this demo pushes the same mid-tempo Tampa DM sound the band has been working since the beginning (even if they’re doing it from Ohio, now.) All three of these songs were rerecorded for the band’s next (and to date latest) album, so I guess if you want to hear them with a little more polish, you can listen to them on The Final Conflict: Last Days of God. But, I doubt you do.
— Friar Johnsen