Music Review: The Georgian Skull - Mother Armageddon, Healing Apocalypse

Canadian act The Georgian Skull rose from the ashes of Mister Bones. Both acts feature front man All "The Yeti" Bones and until very recently I had never heard of either band. The Georgian Skull is certainly an dd choice for a band name, it's origin can be traced to an archaeological dig in the former Soviet state of Georgia. The site was home to a skull that is older than any humanoid found before and could throw what is understood about humanity's origins into question. Fascinating story. I wonder how the band came to us it as a band name.


In any case, Mother Armageddon, Healing Apocalypse is an intriguing if wildly uneven and eventually not so great album. The band wear their influences on their sleeves and that becomes a problem as they all become mush in the music they create. It almost feels like they need to cram all of them into each song, regardless of whether or not it fits. Kind of like throwing it all at the wall and seeing what sticks and then taking whatever doesn't stick and cramming it in anyway. You know those cartoons where they are trying to close an obviously over-stuffed piece of luggage only to have it spring open sending everything everywhere? Yeah, that fits too.

The Georgian Skull is clearly a talented band and I could see them being a lot of fun live. They just need to pull it together a little bit. The music is open and raw and is decidedly more to an unproduced/live in the studio style that is refreshing when so much stuff feels over produced and stripped of its emotion, this one has it all. Whatever ugliness is there comes right through and this is a definite plus to their music.

Heavy, groovy, and all over the place. The Georgian Skull is at a crossroads where Black Sabbath, Pantera, and Clutch meet. Southern doom and stoner metal is what comes out of that meeting with easily traceable lineage.

This is not really a bad album, it is mire like a misuse of obvious talent. The raw material is there, it just needs to be pushed in the right direction where those talents will be able to create some truly awesome music. Also, they need to stop with the long atmospheric and meandering pieces. They spend nearly six minutes on "Intermission" which is just a waste of time and more than eight minutes on "Smoking Your Exorcism" which is just filled with dull meanderings.

I want to like these guys. The talent is there and clearly evident in this album, it just needs to be fine tuned. Again, this is not a bad album, more like a work in progress.

Mildly Recommended.