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Album Details

• Artist: The Skulls
• Album: Night of the Living Skulls
• Label: Finger
• Year of Release: 2004
• ME Rating:
• Reviewed by: rbidet on 2004-11-10

Members of the original class of '77 punks, Los Angeles' the Skulls (okay, original singer Billy Bones and a buncha new Skulls) return for this live recording of songs from their two previous albums. This stuff is pretty true to the spirit of old-school punk, no candied melodies or jokey raps just sixteen fast, fierce tunes ala the Sex Pistols, Damned, or the Germs. The shouted choruses of "Rattle Your Bones" or "Aye, Aye, Aye" and hard-charging, tight rhythm section alongside the machine-gun guitars provide all the no-frills thrills the discerning punk fan would want and the live sound is fitting, no studio polish here, just a well oiled band playing to a receptive audience, recorded very well. The band tries for a bit of pop Hitsville on "Monet" (uncharacteristically long at 3:42) with a more pronounced hook than normal and they pull it off. "Incomplete Suicide" is a particularly hyped up tune with a few trick endings and nicely juiced performances from the whole band. This is loud/fast/rules stuff but it's more fun than confrontational and it's also more fun than inventive. But clearly the Skulls aren't concerned with variety. They're concerned with bringing back the spirit of the original punk movement to a generation they feel really needs it.

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