Customer Reviews

Wild & Inside

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wasn't familiar with Eat Skull, so I'm not about to say that I had their prior record and/or had ever seen them and/or had any idea what they sounded like, but I saw that good things were being said and I saw that this was on Siltbreeze, which has never released a bad record (with many singles being compiled on Tard & Further'd - my favorite compilation CD ever - get that if you don't have it), so I figured I'd give this a shot. Smart move. This is a great CD. Poppier than I thought it would be. Less noisier than I imagined as it's mostly acoustic. But lots more fun than I was expecting. What/who can I compare this? Maybe if the Ramones were slowed down, and played acoustically. Some of the songs sound like they could be on a Nuggets compilation.

Faves include "Stick To The Formula" (I don't know what the formula is, but it's got a great beat and you can dance to it so I'll give it a 98), "Heaven's Stranger" (which makes you smile the second it starts), "Who's In Control?" (which has something in it that reminds me of Adam Sandlers Chanakah song), "Killed By Rooms" (who's faster pace and intensity first threw me off, but which may now be my favorite song on the disk after a couple of listens) and "Oregon Dreaming" (which ends the disk on an almost symphonic scale and causes me to restart everything all over again. At 1:51, I wouldn't be disappointed if it went on as long as "Like A Hurricane". Maybe we should get Eat Skull to channel Neil Young!!). Even "Nuke Mecca" is fun as it sounds like a Hardcore song from 1980 as it changes the tempo a little. And at less than 30 minutes, it's short and sweet. Why stuff a CD with 79 minutes of crap when all you need are 27 minutes? At 3:18, "Talkin Bro In The Walls Blues" practically feels like a 10 minute jam!?!?!

I've heard good things about the lyrics, but I can't understand most of what the singers saying so maybe that'll come to me in the future, of which this CD definitely will be a part of. Six months in, this is the best CD of 2009.

I like the first record a lot. This one is 20 x better than the first..... still a favorite. jesvs christ this awesome live! dont be a fool. my favorite is killed by rooms. i have had this on repeat for 3 days now. lo-fi crux RULING.

This album is essentially what I wanted and expected from the new Times New Viking album. Not that I'm close to giving up on TNV. I'll be first in line to offer up post-game orange slices consoling them that there's always next time. But the disparity between these two albums points out the noisy rock necessity of melody, which was ever present on the Rip it Off. I mean you can't just come to the party making a mess and tracking dirt without bringing booze that'll allow me to forgive you. I also enjoy the occasional folk infusion that lends more depth and fragility to the album, making them a more of a Dutchess and Duke/TNV love child.

I found out about these guys reading an interview from one of the guys from "Woods". If you like the lo-fi sounds Woods is making these days, I'm pretty sure you will like eat skull a lot as well. The album title itself is actually very apt at describing the music within, its got a rambunctious and chaotic feel to it but at the same time you get an intimate feeling from some of the more reflective songs. The album has a very warm and friendly feeling to it also, it is easy imagine that this record was made by a bunch of old friends in a familiar setting (now whether or not this true, I cannot say.) The album flows pretty well, "Stick to the Formula" will make your head start bobbin, and the same is true for the finisher "Oregon Dreaming" which evoked hazy days gone by for me. There is a pretty stark change between "You're with a thing" and "Nuke Mecca", reminiscent of "Serpentine Pad" on Pavement's "Wowee Zowee" but I like that kind of thing. I guess if I boil it all down if you want an album with a new sound but some good old influences and just rockin tunes, get this.