The Georgian Skull Mother Armageddon, Healing Apocalypse
by Derric Miller
Staff Writer
Trying to be interesting or unique in metal is perhaps the greatest challenge a band can face. Sometimes it would seem that every permutation has been tackled—fusion grind, lounge core, country punk—with varying degrees of quality and success. The key to making your mark with something “new,” however, is to do it well. Hailing from the Great White North, The Georgian Skull seems to have attempted some sort of mash-up between blues, rock, and a bit of grindcore, but unfortunately, due to less-than-stellar performances by everyone involved, the result is something perhaps best classified as “messcore.”
What the members of The Georgian Skull appear to have aimed for was a blend the aforementioned rock variations defined by bouncing between one and the other seemingly at random. While not a terrible idea on paper, the sloppy playing and messy production instead have led to the creation of a loose, messy collection of sludgy noise. To be honest, there are surely several “sludgy noise” groups out there that are making quality albums, so blaming the mix is likely unfair.
While there are occasional cool riffs and guitar solos to be found, the majority of the playing is made up almost entirely of guitars that don’t play together (even when they’re supposed to), wavering-tempo drumming, and transitions that feel like they’ve been rehearsed once, perhaps many weeks before the recording. Add to this some Chewbacca-like (though reasonably effective) grunting vocals interspersed with painfully off-key clean vocals, and you’ve got little more than a record seemingly recorded by a group of stoned teenagers, not some somewhat known and respected stoner metal players.
Even the more listenable tracks–most notably “Intermission,” a spacey noise piece interrupted by repetitive lyrical ramblings—are too overshadowed by their shortcomings to receive more than just an “eh, that’s not horrible” reaction. That’s sort of the reaction most metalheads would give to a Jonas Brothers record, not to a record designed for those of the metal faith.
It may seem cruel to tear apart a record so thoroughly, but if anything, it’s because the band in question should technically be able to create a much better product. In this case, all they’ve created is a throwaway album wrapped in some really cool cover art. With a bit of practice, some refined songwriting, and maybe a bit less drug use (unsubstantiated claim, just guessing…) there’s a chance that The Georgian Skull could make an album worth listening to. Until then, do yourself a favor and stick with Kyuss, Orange Goblin and the Black League.
Genre: Sludgy Doom
Band:
Al “the Yeti” Bones (v,g)
Steve “Beard” Dugal (g)
Sash Wilczynski (b)
Adam Saitti (d)
Track Listing:
1. Final Days Of Doom
2. Demon Crippler
3. Hearts Burning
4. Becoming Machines
5. The Funeral
6. Intermission
7. Hunting The Ghost
8. Possessed Obsessed
9. Doom Lord Pusher
10. Where The Demons Dwell
11. Smoking Your Exorcism
Label: Scarlet Records
Website: http://www.myspace.com/georgianskull
Hardrock Haven rating: 3.0/10