SAINT VITUS, C.O.D. (1992, Hellhound)

The skull:
A classic in terms of bigness and dumbness. Very much looks like a last-minute “Album cover? Uh…I don’t know. How about a skull?” sort of decision. We’re on a roll here with skulls missing the lower mandible: SKULLs 22, 21, 19, 17, 14, 11 and 3 are all incomplete yet are super-skully skulls. What happens to a skull’s lower jaw, anyway? Many are lacking the power to chew even the most tender of flesh, which is a damn shame. So, the C.O.D. skull looks kind of holy with that celestial light beaming from its noggin. Incidentally, this is possibly the most bucktoothed skull in the Skullection. Not that there’s anything wrong with the bucktoothed. Don’t be hatin’.

The music:
I love that this forever born-too-late band named their album after a now completely obsolete form of package delivery. Actually, it’s short for Children of Doom, and in the title track’s chorus Saint Vitus rhymes that with “give us some room.” Sure, you got it guys. This Don Dokken produced album is, unfortunately, the band’s most underwhelming album. It’s fine, it just doesn’t offer much in the way of freshness. It’s all rather redundant, despite new blood in vocalist Christian Linderson (ex-Count Raven). The extra tracks on the CD version make the album better, adding some variety to the otherwise repetitive eight main tracks on the vinyl version. It’s not a terrible album at all; Vitus have a tough time doing any real wrong, sez me…it’s just not comparable to their best stuff. Skull-worthy for so many reasons…
— Friar Wagner