TROUBLE — The Skull (review)

TROUBLE — The Skull album cover Album · 1985 · Traditional Doom Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
The Skull is the 2nd full-length studio album by American doom metal act Trouble. The album was released in March 1985 through Metal Blade Records. In addition to the original 7 track album, The Skull has also seen a double gatefold vinyl re-release in 1991 with Psalm 9 (1984). The two albums have also been released together on one CD omitting the 4th track from The Skull called The Truth Is, What Is ( and what a shame that is).

The music on the album pretty much follow the same formula as the music on Psalm 9. We´re talking melodic and brick heavy doom metal combined with more uptempo traditional heavy metal parts. Black Sabbath and Judas Priest are the most obvious references IMO. Eric Wagner´s rusty voice is greatly emotional and one of the most importent elements of the band´s sound. His delivery is strong and personal. There are lots of Christian references in the lyrics and while this might disturb some people, I can´t say it offends me. Not when the message is delivered like it is here. Mostly the lyrics deal with personal suffering, alienation and depression and the difficulties of dealing with those subjects.

In addition to the strong and distinct vocal delivery by Eric Wagner, the music also features a tight and powerful rythm section and the dual guitar attack by Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell. It´s great to hear those two play. They compliment each other very well. The 7 tracks on the album are all high quality doom metal compositions and it´s not hard to understand why Trouble is widely considered one of the most influential doom metal acts when listening to this album.

The production is a bit thin ( just like the sound on the debut), but it´s not a major issue and I enjoy the album without thinking too much about the sound.

The Skull is a great follow up album to Psalm 9, and while the latter might be just a notch stronger than the former, we´re talking minor details here, and The Skull fully deserves a 4 star rating.
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