Tag Archives: grin

SKULL260

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DEUTERONOMIUM, To Die and Gain (1999, self-released)

The skull:
“Check me out! I just won the olde-tyme Olympics!” “Awesome! What’s your event?” “Triple jump.” “Huh. Well, good for you.” “Thanks. I couldn’t have done it without the Lord, my savior, Jesus Christ. Also, the Father and the Holy Spirit. One for each jump.” “Uh, great, but I gotta be going.” “But wait! Have you heard the Good News?” “….”

The music:
It goes to show that you should never judge a book by its cover; I assumed from this hokey skull that I was in for some kind of crappy punk crossover shit, but instead I got… Christian deathrock! Not all surprises are pleasant, I’m afraid. Deuteronomium sound a bit like Dismember trying to sound like Wolverine Blues, except with on-the-nose lyrics about Jesus. Seriously, the lyrics are only one step beyond “Jesus loves me, this I know, because the bible told me so.” Really dreadful stuff. Thankfully, this is only a two song single (three if you could the epically unnecessary demo version of the title track) so my suffering came quickly to an end. I mean, not counting the suffering I’ll endure in the fires of hell for thinking Deuteronomium sucks.
— Friar Johnsen

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MORDARK, Fuerza de la Oscuridad  (2000, self-released)

The skull:
This guy is ready for war. His eyes are piercing and alight with murderous intent. His grin is not one of happiness but of maniacal bloodthirst. (It’s a mouthful of choppers that any dentist would give their lateral incisor to work on.) How can we tell this skull’s up to no good? That ancient battle helmet! We’ll assume the horns are attached to the headpiece, because if they were actually part of his skull, it would be impossible to get that war-cap on his head.

The music:
I don’t know if this was intentional or not, but these Spaniards sound a lot like Tiamat in the Astral Sleep era. Descriptions of them as “black heavy metal” are accurate. The stuff is as angular and poorly recorded as Tiamat’s material from that era, but lacks all the eccentricity and ingenuity. Mordark gets a little more “true metal” sounding at times (the middle of “Almas Negras,” which is like early Slayer meets Iron Maiden, but played very very poorly). This album is generally too clunky and derivative for its own good, but they give it the old college try. They’re onto something, I’m just not sure it would be all that interesting even if it was better written and performed. This recording is from the earlier part of their career, and apparently they’re still around so let’s assume they’ve improved by now…
— Friar Wagner

SKULL120

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JOE THRASHER, Metal Forces  (2009, self-released)

The skull:
Love it. Just endearingly dumb, this silly skull grins madly under a dorky logo. The black and red simplicity makes it look like some NWOBHM 7 inch. Very much looks like the skull of famous DC comics villain the Joker, if he were to be de-fleshed…particularly the ’50s/’60s era one, if we’re being really nerdy.

The music:
Plus points for naming this album after the great UK metal magazine of yore. Onslaught had their “Metal Forces” song decades ago, but Joe Thrasher probably doesn’t know that, or maybe they just don’t care. What do we have here? We have a group of Canadians hellbent on playing the strictest interpretation of ’80s thrash possible. They’ve studied up on their countrymen, as lots of this album reminds of Canuck thrashers like Razor and Piledriver. The playing is fine, the riffing and solos are vice-tight, so it does the requisite thrash thing there. The vocals are a not-very-vicious snarl that’s like Vince Neil trying to do thrash, or Steve Souza trying to do Vince Neil. At just under 27 minutes, these nine songs blaze by without much to distinguish one from the other. They all thrash like hell, though every now and then they churn along in a mid-paced bore (“The March”). “The March” is worse than the worst Manowar (and I like Manowar, for the most part). The lyrics are dumb as fuck. This would have gone mostly unnoticed on an old label like Mean Machine or New Renaissance back in the day, so it sure as shit doesn’t measure up now.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL84

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SKULLVIEW, Skullview  (1997, demo)

The skull:
This image appeared on a demo cassette, which helps fill the frame with one humongous skull! The skull seems to be leering at what it views: endless humans, clones apparently, all with shaved heads, looking like victims in some hellish concentration camp (is there any other kind of concentration camp?). They are not at all happy, and in fact look quite desperate, while the skull grins as if to say “I diiiig what this skull is viewin’, baby.” One can imagine the wider picture, too, the skull perched on top of its skeletal frame, sitting on a chopper riding down a highway in the valley of the damned. Pure evil, or something. An interesting image, one of my personal favorites in the BDS Skullection.

The music:
I have a soft spot for this sort of stuff, and while bands like Omen, Heavy Load, Manilla Road and even early Nocturnal Rites epitomize the purest heavy metal, constant rehash by newer and younger bands almost dilutes the whole idea. There are few bands that have landed in the 2000s doing something extraordinary, although Lost Horizon and Pharaoh should be mentioned, yet even those bands have a more refined, modern feel. As for the likes of Enforcer, Portrait and In Solitude, I get it, but the older bands still wrote better and more lasting songs. All this to say that Skullview were right there in 1997, when this sort of thing was at its lowest ebb of popularity, at least until Hammerfall blew up later that year. This demo sounds like some Metal Blade band circa 1984, and it’s hard not to like, even in rough demo form. The three songs here made it onto the band’s first album, and they’ve been flying the traditional heavy metal flag ever since. Skullview has a dark gothic vibe before gothic meant “Nightwish” and that sort of junk, and while it’s nothing original, their hearts are clearly in it for life, and the relative complexity of the arrangements ensures multiple listens. There’s no mistaking it for any other band: Skullview manage a sound of their own despite originating from a place of total elder gods worship. I’m sure we’d all have a blast together cranking up some Medieval Steel and Gotham City records while slamming down some beers, so yeah, I’m on Skullview’s side for sure.
— Friar Wagner