ALBUM REVIEW: The Skull, "The Endless Road Turns Dark"

By: Andrew Field

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 07/09/2018
Label: Tee Pee Records

When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before

‘The Endless Road Turns Dark’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1. The Endless Road Turns Dark
2. Ravenswood
3. Breathing Underwater
4. The Longing
5. From Myself Depart
6. As the Sun Draws Near
7. All That Remains (Is True)
8. Thy Will Be Done

The Review:

The word “legend” is overused, but not in the case of Eric Wagner: the voice of Trouble, Blackfinger and The Skull for the last 30 years. One of doom’s most influential yet humble frontmen, Wagner is enjoying a creative purple patch at present. Earlier this year he reactivated Blackfingerand the resulting album was his most mature and confident release since leaving Troublein 2008.  If Blackfinger replaced the chug of Troublewith a more deliciously relaxed vibe (which was solid gold), then the new album by The Skullbrings back the barnstorming doom of the Chicagotitans he fronted for almost two decades.

From the first few notes of the title track – which opens the album – you’re in instantly familiar Wagner territory. Able Lieutenant and doom bass god Ron Holzner is still at his side, anchoring the bottom end with former Cathedral drummer Brian Dixon. Over their thunderous melee guitarists Lothar Keller and Rob Wrong trade solos and huge rhythmic slabs of riffage which churn and grind with wilful abandon. It’s one hell of a beautiful sound.Third track “Breathing Underwater” is an early highlight: funeral pace doom with a chorus built around a startling guitar motif which is guaranteed to give you goose bumps. “From Myself Departs” starts like nothing else in the band’s canon, with Holzer laying down a funk bassline over which a Hendrixian riff floats (bringing to mind Living Colour or Stevie Salas Colorcode) before the band slam back into a more comfortable sturm and drang groove and full-on ‘galloping horses’ bridge section which is the best thing on the record.

Elsewhere you get the standard slower number, “All That Remains (Is True)”, which shuffles wonderfully in 6/4 time, and a massive closing boogie in “Thy Will Be Done”. When its all over you realise that The Skull have upped their game to such an extent that they are no longer just reflecting the band members past glories, but building a new legacy that is equally as exciting as what has gone before. They haven’t thrown the baby out with the bath water. But they’ve bought a modern and quite wonderful new bath.

Wagner turns 60 next April. It’s great to hear him and his compadres growing old this disgracefully.  Long may they continue to do so.

“The Endless Road Turns Black” is available here

Band info: facebook

ALBUM REVIEW: Blackfinger - "When Colors Fade Away"

By: Richard Maw


Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 15/09/2017

Label: M-Theory Audio

 

I cannot find anything to fault here. Blackfinger have delivered nine tracks of trad doom with style and finesse. Eric Wagner has put his name to another excellent doom album and this is recommended to any fans of Trouble, The Skull, Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and so on out there

“When Colors Fade Away” CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). When Colors Fade Away

2). Can I Get A Witness

3). All My SorrowType O

4). My Old Soul

5). After-now

6). Crossing The River

7). Beside Still Water

8). Waiting for the Sun

9). Till We Meet Again

The Review:

Blackfinger's second album once again has Eric Wagner at the helm on vocals and comes three years after their self titled debut.  The band is split between Illinois and Pennsylvaniaand certainly brings the Autumnal melancholy that one associates with those states. The first album was a mixture of doom and classic rock influences and reminded me of Type O Negative in some ways. This second offering, to my ears has ramped up the doom leanings.

The title track is up first and makes an effective statement of intent- it delivers downbeat and downcast doom in the Sabbath vein, while “Can I Get A Witness” also has the blood of Iommi running through its veins. The nine tracks here all sounds great; the drums are boomy and big sounding, the bass rumbles, the guitars suitably thick. Wagner is on good form as ever (when is he not?!) and he keeps his plaintive wail pitched just right- both in terms of lyrics and technical singing. References to obscure darkness, the illusion of choice and so on abound. The nursery rhyme reference in “My Old Soul” works, surprisingly, but it is the atmosphere of the album which really makes for more than the sum of its parts.

Even when the band grooves, as it does on “Afternow”, there is still an undercurrent of menace and despair- which is exactly as a doom record should be! The track is a great example of a slow groove, it features a cowbell and the solo, which is excellent. With none of the tracks exceeding six minutes and most around the four minute mark, the band has their style of arrangements down. This is not epic doom, but it is doom in the most traditional form- please note, sludge is NOT doom.

From the crawling likes of ”Crossing The River Turmoil” to the more creepy “Beside Still Water” the record does cover a fair bit of ground- but only within the sphere of trad doom. This is not a heavy metal record, it does not feature thrash inflections and has stripped away the classic rock feel of the self titled album.

By the time of the melodic “Waiting For The Sun”, the album is most definitely set in stone- melancholy vibe in terms of clean sections, lyrics and vocals, riffs that are thick and heavy with emotional weight rather than aggression. Only on the closing “Till We Meet Again” does the band press the pedal slightly closer to the metal and a fine groove it is too. Really, I cannot find anything to fault here. Blackfinger have delivered nine tracks of trad doom with style and finesse. Eric Wagner has put his name to another excellent doom album and this is recommended to any fans of Trouble, The Skull, Saint Vitus, The Obsessed and so on out there. Try to get hold of it before winter really hits as it suits the atmosphere of Autumn perfectly.

“When Colors Fade Away” is available here

Band info: bandcamp|| facebook

"Because 11 is one louder": Jonathan "Sealey" Seale (Bassist for Iron Void) chooses his Top 5 Trad doom albums

Iron Void are the UK's leading exponents of traditional doom: doom with singing, doom with riffs, doom with... songs?! Their lineage is not hard to trace: try Sabbath as a starting point. Having put out a stellar EP and two full length albums, Iron Void are preparing to play The Asylum2in Birminghamon Saturday 15^th October as a celebration for the vinyl release of album number two: “Doomsday”, which is out now on Fear Me! Music.

Today as part of a two part article with Iron Void, bassist, Jonathan “Sealey” Seale chooses his top five albums from their band's chosen genre. Read on for a trip into the arcane and mysterious world of doom...and expect part II featuring guitarist Steve Wilson in the coming weeks ahead. In the meantime, turn the dial all the way to 11, “Because 11 is one louder”



1.       Black Sabbath – ‘Master of Reality’ (1971)

Masters of the art! I had to mention Sabbath, it goes without saying doesn’t it? They invented not only Heavy Metal but Doom Metal too. The self-titled song, ‘Black Sabbath’ from their debut is THE Doom Metal blueprint; thunder and rain, heavy riffs, softer passages and the up-tempo build-up in the middle which concludes the song. A classic formula, repeated many times since by a lot of bands, ourselves included! It’s so difficult to pick a favourite Sabbathalbum as I love all eras of the band. The Ozzy and Dio eras are definitely my favourites though. If I had to pick one album, it would be this one. It’s definitely the heaviest Sabbathrecord in my opinion and also the most ‘stoned’ sounding one if you catch my drift?  They tuned down for the first time on this record (the first 2 were in Standard tuning) which made for a darker atmosphere and I love the contrast of the acoustic tracks, ‘Embryo’ and ‘Orchid’ with heavier numbers such as ‘Lord of This World’ and ‘Into The Void’, the dynamics work perfectly.  

2.       Saint Vitus – ‘Born Too Late’ (1986)

        Sabbath invented Doom in the 70’s, but it was the bands who followed in their wake such as Saint Vitus, Pentagram and Troublewho defined Doom Metal as a genre in the 80’s. Again, it’s very hard to pick one particular album from a band I love so much but this is as classic as it gets. Stand out songs for me are ‘Dying Inside’, which is a stark warning about the dangers of alcoholism and the title track, a Doom anthem with lyrics every Doom fan can relate to. I also love the Scott Reagers fronted Vitus and the Lord Chritus era too but Wino is one of my all-time favourite singers and guitarists so this album is as perfect as it gets for me. If I had more choices I would also probably have included an album fromThe Obsessed in this list, maybe ‘The Church Within"

3.       Pentagram – ‘Relentless’ (1985)

        Another stone-cold classic and the first record I heard by them. This album is just killer from start to finish. Victor Griffin’s guitar tone sounds like a buzz saw (in a good way!), Bobby is genuinely sinister in his vocal delivery and Joe Hasselvander pounds the hell out of the drum kit throughout while Martin Swaney holds down the low end. So many classic songs too! There’s no filler on this album at all, every song just slays. You’ve got to love the cow-bell in the middle of ‘Sinister’too! A close second choice to this album would be ‘Be Forewarned’ (1994) but I adore everything they have released. It was a real honour and pleasure to play with them at Day of Doom Barcelona in 2015, a dream come true.

4.       Trouble – ‘Trouble’ (1990)

        Most True Doom heads would probably pick ‘Psalm 9’ or ‘The Skull’ over this but I got into Trouble via ‘Manic Frustration’ in the early 90’s then worked my way backwards. I just really like the vibe of this album. The lyrics, riffs and solos are exceptional. Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell are one of the best twin guitar teams in the business. I’ve seen them live several times with different line-ups and they don’t miss a note, they’re so tight! It’s cool nowadays that we have both Troublewith Kyle Thomas on vocals and The Skull but I do sometimes wish this line-up (minus Barry Stern, R.I.P.) would get back together for a few shows, that would be ace!

5.       Sleep – ‘Sleep’s Holy Mountain’ (1992)

        Some would argue that Sleep aren’t really ‘Trad Doom’. Although they kick started the whole ‘Stoner Doom’ genre I still consider this to be a trad Doom album, heavily influenced by Sabbath’s early albums and copious amounts of weed! Most Sleep fans bang on about ‘Jerusalem’ (AKA ‘Dopesmoker’) as the best record but I disagree. ‘Jerusalem’ has its charms but ‘Sleep’s Holy Mountain’is where it’s at! When I first heard it I thought it was so heavy, the bass is just off the scale! This was one of the first Doom albums I ever heard and I still listen to it regularly now. I would also highly recommend their debut, ‘Volume One’.

Band info: bandcamp || facebook