I miss Eric Wagner. As the frontman for Trouble he was an American doom icon and his unique voice was a big part of the soundtrack of my life. His passing in 2021 was a big loss to Metaldom and I get sad whenever I think about it. He left behind a completed solo album but he’d also nearly finished a new album with his band The Skull. Fortunately, his bandmates and friends were able to finish what Eric started, and they recruited a doom dream team to bring his final inspiration into existence. Legions of Doom features former members of The Skull, Trouble, Saint Vitus, and Corrosion of Conformity and The Skull 3 plays out like a loving tribute to Eric Wagner and American doom as a whole. It’s clear there was a lot of attention and care put into the album, and though the entire project has a pall over it, there’s light too, and the warm feeling of a familiar presence.
The elevator pitch for The Skull 3 is one-half a Trouble and Saint Vitus team-up and one-half a follow-up to C.O.C.’s iconic Blind album. Opener “Beyond the Shadow of Doubt” is like Trouble jamming on a mammoth cut with early ’90s C.O.C. with Karl Agell rising from left field to deliver barn-burning vocals steeped in emotion and pain. It’s the kind of song you fall for on the first spin and I can’t get enough of the raw, doomy emotion this song exudes from every pore. The Trouble-esque doom riffs and harmonies are pitch-perfect and everything just works. “All Good Things” keeps things humming with another emotive hard and heavy number with Agell again impressing with plaintive, haunted vocals as the guitars churn and chug in masterful ways. “Lost Souls” takes a step backward in time to the early days of Saint Vitus with their frontman Scott Reagers handling vocals. It sounds like something off their 1984 debut and the lyrics speak to the eternal soul and how we’re never truly gone from our loved ones.1 It’s doomy and uplifting at the same time.2
The unexpected highlight is “Heaven” which Eric Wagner recorded vocals for. Hearing this kind of pre-death output is strange but it warms the heart to have something new from him. It’s one of those Beatles-esque slow burners Eric dabbled in over the years and it’s sweet and hopeful. Also of note is the face-stomping urgency of “Insecticide” where the guitars are unleashed to riff you into a huddled mass as Kark Agell rages on about your inadequacies. It’s tough love from a burly rocker with a bad attitude. Not everything hits the bullseye as cleanly. 10-plus minute closer “Hallow By All Means” is a good long-form doom song with Reagers doing his ghoulish best but it drags on too long. But this is a minor gripe on an otherwise consistent and enthralling album cobbled together from partially unfinished material.
With doom royalty involved, the performances themselves were never in doubt. Ron Holzer (The Skull, ex-Trouble), Lothar Keller (The Skull), and Scott Little (Leadfoot) bring a wealth of veteran savvy to the project, delivering massive doom leads and colorful flourishes spanning southern and ’70s rock as well as sludge. They mostly keep things in the neighborhood Trouble and The Skull inhabited but there are more than a few C.O.C. and Down references too. Karl Agell reprises his role from C.O.C.s iconic Blind release and he still sounds great. Hearing him here makes me wish he kept recording music in this vein for the last several decades as he was born for it. Scott Reagers has always been one of my favorite doom vocalists and he delivers his classic oddball warbling. Yes, he drags everything to Saint Vitus Meadows whenever he opens his mouth, but it’s a happy detour nonetheless.
I’m usually down on these kinds of posthumous projects. For some reason, I felt less cynical about this one and let it get under my skin. Legions of Doom does justice to the life and works of Eric Wagner and it feels like a loving send-off by brothers in arms. The Skull 3 would be a damn good doom album even if it had nothing to do with Eric. As the last breath of his creativity, however, it takes on extra meaning and poignancy. This can be considered a proper companion to Eric’s In the Lonely Light of Mourning solo album and I’m thankful it’s good enough for that. The man deserves nothing less. Hail to the voyager, wherever he may be.
Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 10 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Tee Pee Records
Websites: facebook.com/legionsofdoomband | instagram.com/legionsofdoomband
Releases Worldwide: September 13th, 2024
The post Legions of Doom – The Skull 3 Review appeared first on Angry Metal Guy.
