Tag Archives: spikes

SKULL648

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LOBOTOMIA, Lobotomia (1986, New Face)

The skull:
This might just be the most spike-ridden skull in the entire Skullection. This dude was in for a world of hurt when he auditioned for this job. Not only did the artist impale the bastard with long needle-like spikes so he could draw his tortured likeness, he stuck all the drumsticks from his KFC bucket into various orifices of the skull. And where there wasn’t an orifice, the artist made one. And only then did he draw this piece of art. As for the skull, this was low pay for high pain, and he’ll never do this shit again. Dude went home shaken to the core, warning his skull palls to “never, ever, ever apply for that Lobotomia job.” It’s advice any skull would do well to heed.

The music:
In Sao Paulo circa 1986, any band going for a mesh of thrash and speed metal and hardcore could only come out sounding like this…which is to say they sound like early Ratos de Parao. It’s bouncy stuff, especially with that bass guitar sounding like it came off some early Metal Blade album:  fat and prominent, despite being kinda low-fi. The music on the whole is fast, fairly vicious, and raw, but not exactly dark or sinister, unlike the more black/death-oriented extreme metal coming from Brazil at the time. It’s okay but lacks distinctive atmosphere and offers very little in the way of memorability. In the end, my basic response is: “yeah, early Brazilian thrash core…what else ya got?” Next…
— Friar Wagner

SKULL595

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SKULLCRUSHER, Demo Version 2002 (2002, demo)

The skull:
It’s like this skull and this skull fucked and made an ugly skullbaby, who quit high school and took a job on a pirate flag for a buck over minimum wage and was like, “Fuck you losers, I’m outta this shit town for good!” and they were like, “You’re an ingrate and a bum and we never loved you!” and he was all, “Fffuuh!”

The music:
I couldn’t find this demo anywhere, but from the looks of this cover I’d say this is blackened rethrash, like Destruction doing Bathory covers while Greek. Releasing a cassette demo in 2002 was a pretty bold move: at least as contrarian as releasing a vinyl demo in 2035 or whatever.
— Friar Johnsen

SKULL518

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CORROSION OF CONFORMITY, Corrosion of Conformity  (2012, Candlelight)

The skull:
You know a band is scrambling when they bring back a logo or mascot previously left behind in the name of forward evolution. So many bands eventually wander roads less traveled, dropping iconic imagery and the familiar musical style that gained them legendary status, only to return at some future points with more recognizable sounds and symbols. The return to safer environs rarely results in music that measures up to the good old days — it’s usually a case of too little, too late. The return of the classic Megadeth logo and mascot; the return of the classic My Dying Bride logo; the return of the classic Slayer logo; the return of the Destruction logo and skull; the return of the classic Anthrax logo; the return of the classic Celtic Frost logo (I’m not amongst the majority who think Monotheist is good); on and on. So often it just feels like a seductive sham, a pandering to gullible fans after some hurt feelings. What are we to think when Corrosion of Conformity bring back their horned skull? After many dormant years, this highly recognizable bad boy returns, but this time they have added more spikes, tentacle-ish things, an eye of Horus, a sword-like thing under the chin, and a curious and adorable chinchilla-looking creature for its forehead. It’s a great design, except for the chinchilla, and a reasonably acceptable update of the classic skull made famous by zillions of t-shirt wearing fans, bands and quite a few people who don’t even know what COC is but thought the shirt looked totally bad-ass.

The music:
According to this Friar, COC’s Blind is one of the best metal albums released in the ’90s. They were just getting good at a time when most of their older fan base were demanding a name change. And Blind is way better than good. While Animosity and Deliverance have their moments, nothing the band has released before or since has been worthy of Blind‘s majesty. Part of the the problem is this issue of perpetual stylistic crisis. COC never stay in one musical place for very long, yet they continue to try and zero in on what it is that they do exactly. It’s been an interesting run, even if they seem wayward most the time. If the return of the spiky skull symbol wasn’t enough, the band decided to self-title this one, so apparently it’s gonna be the defining COC album. Finally! But with so many stylistic shifts, what should definitive COC sound like? Apparently it sounds like this — an often uncomfortably ambling and sometimes impressively focused mesh of hardcore, Southern rock, sludge, doom, punk, stoner rock, noise rock and thrash. Where “Psychic Vampire” is wholly unappealing in its muddied, muddled thrash-meets-sludge slop, something like “Your Tomorrow” is appealing because it hones in on one direction — that being a Trouble/Black Sabbath-esque slab of smart, emotive doom. Many of the songs here feature impressive riffs or inventive vocal melodies, but also a few too many dead-end riffs and sequences. Reed Mullin is excellent throughout. He remains one of the most underrated and tastiest drummer in the genre(s) — one listen to “The Doom” confirms this. So, Corrosion of Conformity is a likable but hardly lovable hodgepodge, and probably the first one since Deliverance that’s worth more than a cursory glance.
— Friar Wagner

SKULL485

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NUCLEAR DEATH TERROR, Ceaseless Desolation (2008, self-released)

The skull:
I could be mistaken, but I think this is the first biohazard symbol admitted into the Skullection. At least, I can’t recall another one. Then again, for as cool as that symbol is, it has obviously been poisoned forever by bandana clad jumpmen from Brooklyn, so it’s not too surprising that most of the metal scene has steered wide of that iconography. In this case, you have to actually look pretty hard to even make it out, under the horns, spikes, sword and septagram. What, they couldn’t squeeze in a radiation symbol and a chaos star? It’s especially funny that a band called Nuclear Death Terror would opt for the biohazard symbol over the radiation symbol, but hey, these guys are anarchists and they do what they like!

The music:
This is straight-up Scandinavian d-beat, and while that’s not normally my thing, there’s something weirdly appealing about this. It sounds like Bolt Thrower doing Discharge covers, and the singer bears a more-than-slight vocal resemblance to the mighty Martin van Drunen. Sure, every song is pretty much the same, and that tiring d-beat beat dominates, but the guitar tone is sharp, the songs are intense, and at just over 10 minutes, this EP knows exactly how long it’s welcome. This is a long out of print demo CD, and while I could download the tunes from Bandcamp, I probably won’t, even though I enjoyed listening to them well enough, because I doubt this would have any staying power for me, but just the fact that this assignment wasn’t torture amounts to a ringing endorsement.
— Friar Johnsen