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THE SKULL
For Those Which Are Asleep

Tee Pee (2014)
Rating: 9/10

Having only recently succumbed to the autumnal pastures of Blackfinger and their self-titled debut, I was once again eager to chill my grey bones to the sound of another act featuring former Trouble frontman Eric Wagner.

The Skull is about as close to old Trouble as it gets in the name department (The Skull being the name of Trouble’s classic 1985 opus). For this project Wagner has drafted in original Trouble member Jeff “Oly” Olson on drums, who joins former Trouble member Ron Holzner on bass, Lothar Keller (Sacred Dawn) on guitar and former Pentagram axeman Matt Goldsborough. It also won’t surprise you to learn that For Those Which Are Asleep is a fucking great debut record that puts the latest Trouble album The Distortion Field (2013) to shame.

The immense opener ‘Trapped Inside My Mind’ is a wondrous trudging monolith carved from the very stone of Mount Doom and evoking echoes of Trouble at its most pensive and moody. In fact, The Skull is clearly – to me anyway – a way of showing Trouble what they are missing; Wagner’s lazy drool, and simplistic lyrics exude not just an arrogance but a humility as the singer mourns, “After all these years it’s becoming quite clear; for as long we both shall live…” as if he’s exorcising demons over a haunting grumble of thundery guitar and booming bass.

As an opening track, ‘Trapped Inside My Mind’ is one that instils such a feeling of dread that as it races into Gothic abandonment Wagner pleads for us to “help me to escape” as if a shadowy figure or dark cloud is looming above him; maybe the presence being his former band? But whatever the case, it’s a grief-stricken way to start a record before we move on to ‘The Touch Of Reality’ with its simmering, tip-toe bass and then that lumbering rhythm. It’s music to perform séances to on a rainy afternoon; Wagner’s mournful wail becoming another instrument of the morose as his colleagues march along like a funeral procession through the avenues of the mind.

Although I loved the last few albums from Trouble, their cult offerings will always be considered to be those earlier albums culminating in the masterful self-titled composition from 1990. And with The Skull, Wagner and co. have tapped back into that dark, bleak never-ending corridor of depression and anxiety with the likes of the sleepy ‘Sick Of It All’ and piano-led ‘The Door’ taking us, and aching with us to the mid-section of the opus but in each case relying on a sombre elegance.

And the black rain just keeps on pouring. From the twisted riffage of ‘Send Judas Down’ to the crushing psychedelia of ‘A New Generation’, there is such a simplistic air of the macabre; maybe it’s in that sorrowful moan of Wagner, or the chemistry between the band members which results in such doleful metal majesty. Trouble was always one of those bands that could assemble every decade or so and churn out such glorious gloom however frustrating they were, and The Skull simply continues that genius showcased with the likes of ‘Till The Sun Turns Black’, which rolls into Black Sabbath territory on black frothing waves sweeping us into the gaping shoreline of the gargantuan title track with its reflective lyrics in which Wagner ponders of mystery and dejected figures. “Let us pray your soul to keep” he demands, and we’re with him at that altar of tears as Olson’s drums ripple in the breeze awaiting their moment to cascade.

The album comes to a close with two monstrosities of doom; the first being ‘Sometime Yesterday Mourning’ with its slow chug of menace and Olson’s jabbing sombre beat. “So alone now with no-one to care, nothing left except to say goodbye, when along came some friends of mine that didn’t pass me by” Wagner hums as the speakers shake, bringing with his drool another sheet of grey rain. Keller’s guitar continues the mourning process, cavorting with Goldsborough’s equally downcast flirtation, and that’s where The Skull can be found; dwelling not quite in misery but subtly tweaking that stone-faced Trouble sound and making it their own. “Such a long walk through Hell, think I need to rest just for a while, far as I can tell it’s peaceful here” Wagner reflects; possibly happy with his state of mind and the sound he and his band has created.

And as ‘The Last Judgement’ (an old Trouble chestnut that appeared on Metal Blade Records’ 1983 Metal Massacre IV compilation) smothers us with another titanic riff it’s fair to say that The Skull has succeeded in revisiting the Trouble years, but laced such macabre intention with their own dejected class.

Neil Arnold

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