So it has been a long time since I have heard a band that captured something other than detuning perfectly. A perfect blend of shredder, actual human drumming talent, and a vocalist who can hit the valhallan highs with the best of the late 70’s/80s. An amazing collection of talent, Skull Fist put a lot of effort into their band, and it really shows!
Here’s the short bio off the good ol’ Wiki:
Skull Fist was founded in 2006 by Guitarist/Singer Jackie Slaughter in Toronto. The band released a 2 song demo in 2006 titled No False Metal which included the tracks “Ride The Beast” and “No False Metal“. The band has seen many line-up changes from 2006 to 2010 leaving Slaughter the sole consistent member and many musicians coming and going on a regular basis. Slaughter released the ” Heavier than Metal” E.P. with “Alison Thunderland” on Drums and “Sir Shred” on 2nd guitar in 2010 to a very positive review in the metal community and later signed to Noise Art Records shortly after. For the E.P. release, the band completed 2 tours across Canada, the Metal Assault festival in Europe along with a tour in January 2011 through Europe. Afterwards Up the Hammers Festival in Greece and a tour with Bullet and Enforcer in April 2011. Alison and Shred left the band due to personal conflicts. Casey Slade had joined the band shortly after the E.P. was recorded who had actually replaced Jonny Nesta who was filling in on bass until Slaughter settled on a permanent member. Of course Nesta had now joined Skull Fist on Guitar which saw the release of the first Skull Fist Album “Head Of The Pack” album with Casey Slade and Jonny Nesta. It was released August 26th 2011 and was the beginning of the bands career in Music. After the release of the album Jake Purchase was added to the band and another Canada tour was done along with the power of metal tour with Sabaton and Grave Digger. The album has received great reviews across the globe which led them to another European tour with Grand Magus, Bullet, Steel Wing and Vanderbuyst. The summer of 2012 saw the band sharing the stage with Megadeth, W.A.S.P., and Uriah Heep for The Rock the Nation touring festival event “Metal Fest 2012.”. Jake Purchase left and was replaced with Chris Steve. This was followed by a tour in Japan with Solitude and featured a gig with legendary black/thrash act Sabbat, Another Canadian tour and a tour through Brazil. The release of the second album for 2013 was postponed by a lack of funding and then postponed yet again after Slaughter broke his neck and other bones in a skateboarding accident. (Skull Fist Wikipedia)
The opener, Hour to Live, starts in with a sweet classic fade-in from the guitarist, Jackie Slaughter or John Nesta I do not know, into a complete riff sucked right out of the Sunset Strip. From there we have Slaughter’s soaring voice, again reminiscent of everything awesome about lycra and hairspray, and everything kind of just gets awesome. It honestly never stops from there, into Bad For Good, which makes me think young Scorpions smashed together with Iron Maiden, with the lyrical choices balanced by tone and skill of the band as a whole. That is also a huge point for these guys. They write and perform with a felt passion, and the songs can’t help but wedge themselves in your mind for sometime after this stops playing.
Another point in their favor is that none of the players are slouches, respectively. From the pump up drums (Sign of the Warrior, Shreds not Dead) that just feels right and will make you lose more pens to the imaginary crowd than you should, its the shred heaviness I have praised prior. I can’t really cite a specific example, other than the whole album; however, a stellar quick example is the opening of Sign of the Warrior, after the bombastic drums, they shred the absolute shine off the strings. They tap, shred, riff, hammer on/off/beers/your mom, its all there. Its genuine old school metal from a youthful band.
I think I sprouted a main of golden locks and a kegger popped up around me the first time I threw this record up. There is nothing about this album that I don’t like, except its just too short! I need more of this! A band this young needs to put out more than just a measly 2 records by this point. At least they have stuck around, with several hiatuses and lineup changes to make even Spinal Tap proud. This will end up in your final rotation, even if you don’t remember even buying it! They have a very good career ahead if they can keep this up, mark my words! (Please don’t use sharpie. I need to wash them if I am wrong…)
Album out now!
