FABRYKA INDUSTRIAL ROCK & METAL ENCYCLOPEDIA

Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz | Review submission: About | Suggest an artist

Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame |Metal Blade, 1992|

01. Orifice, 02. Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame, 03. Cold Angel Press, 04. Charlemagne, 05. Gemini, 06. Indestructible, 07. Feast, 08. Once Alive, 09. Sympathy For The Devil, 10. Poisonous, 11. Prey Flesh

The debut album from Skrew brings familiar names, thrash guitar riffs and... a bit of amateur sounding industrial. However, these features can be easily explained.

Skrew, the follow up project from guitarist and vocalist Adam Grossman, rose from the ashes of a thrash-experimental band known as Angkor Wat. There were a few other famous musicians hailing from the same Corpus Christi city in Texas involved in the Angkor Wat line-up such as Danny Lohner (Nine Inch Nails, Reinholder) and Mike Titsworth (Pail leader, currently working with the Dolphin Teeth project).
When Angkor Wat quit in 1990, a few past members continued to express their musical passions in the newly created band called Skrew. Along with the growth and importance of the industrial metal scene, there were a few meaningful names on the market, so they were invited to work on the debut Skrew album. It's enough to mention Al Jourgensen (Ministry, Buck Satan & The 666 Shooters), Phil Owen (The Skatenigs, Revolting Cocks), Mike Scaccia (Ministry, Rigor Mortis) and Jim Marcus (Die Warzau) to draw your interest at this point.

When it comes to the samples and electronics utilized on this album, keep in mind we're talking about the beginning of the 1990's, when music wasn't made with the use of home studio computers and all the advanced software of today making things easier. In contrast, big analogue gear – synths, samplers and mixing boards with quite basic functions did the job back then. This may be the reason why the samples used in the background tracks on Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame sound somewhat dated.

There are two types of songs on this album. The first brings brooding and heavy atmospheres applied to the arrangement of songs such as "Orifice", "Cold Angel Press" and "Feast". The other collection brings strong rhythms and aggression; this group includes tracks like "Gemini" (a side note: Gemini is Adam's zodiac sign) and "Once Alive", as well as "Charlemagne" with strongly accented bass lines. Some songs are black metal-esque in nature like "Indestructible", along with the title song "Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame" and a cover version of The Rolling Stones "Sympathy For The Devil" which is quite difficult to recognize at first.

"Poisonous" seems to be an outsider on this record due to DJ style scratching and rapping on vinyl. Your attention may be spiced up a bit by "Prey Flesh", the song that is on the ending of the album where the voice of Jim Marcus reminds me of Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb) a lot, even though this may not have been planned.

Burning In Water, Drowning In Flame is the noisiest song from the entire Skrew discography that has been released so far thanks to the guitars and vocals. However, the mastering could have been done better.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, 12/16/2012 - update. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. This review must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)

PS. Skrew reunited in 2010 and it seems they have come full circle with some of the newest releases from the album Universal Immolation as the music sounds like a return to their primal, thrash-industrial sound.

Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz | Review submission: About | Suggest an artist

Dusted |Metal Blade, 1994|

01. In Tongues, 02. Seeded, 03. Picasso Trigger, 04. Albatross, 05. Jesus Skrew Superstar, 06. Skrew Saves, 07. Season for Whither, 08. Sour, 09. Mouthful of Dust, 10. Godsdog

The second album from the Skrew discography entitled Dusted includes all the familiar attributes of true industrial metal patterns. The year 1994 seemed to bloom with the best albums ever released (not only guitar driven or alternative music related), thus Skrew ideally fit into this era which was one of the most interesting periods of time in rock music history.

The Dusted album brings with it a set of ten heavy, rhythmic, red hot songs thanks to the guitars, powerful drum beats and aggressive vocals in a fusion of dynamic orchestration.

First of all, Tom Baker (Ministry, Nine Inch Nails, Danzig, Marilyn Manson, Disturbed) was adamant about the quality production of Dusted before sending the album to Critter (Die Warzau, 13 Mg., Econoline Crush), Bill Garcelon (Monster Voodoo Machine, Chemlab, Sister Machine Gun) and Mike Tholen (Chris Connelly, Armageddon Dildos, Iron Lung Corp.) who each did segments of the mixing which overall was a big achievement; additionally granting a clear and professional sound on the album.

Second, the list of musicians involved with this release may cause an unhealthy excitement amongst the fans of guitar driven industrial music: Brian Leisgang (programming, Filter, 13 Mg., Nine Inch Nails), Mike Riggs and Clay Campbell (guitars). Mike Riggs collaborated with Rob Zombie, then recorded music with Clay Campbell on an album for Mike's band Scum of The Earth. There's also Jim Vollentine (keyboards, Auschwitz 46), Mark Dufour (drums), Brandon Workman (bass) and of course, the founder of Skrew - Adam Grossman (guitar and vocals).

This album couldn't have been done wrong. Gigantic sounds and as many as three guitar players have become a trademark of Skrew, however some people were cracking their heads to obtain such an extensive line-up during this phenomenal time in the history of the genre.

There are no bad songs on Dusted and to be honest with you, it enlists all hits.
As usual, in terms of Skrew, there's some murky intro ("In Tongues") which opens the album. Then, the listener is exposed to the fundamental content which represents this release. Genuine guitar solos and very thrifty sampling create a dynamically heavy, tight and diabolical sound for songs like "Seeded", "Albatross", "Skrew Saves", "Season for Whither", "Mouthful of Dust" and hits such as those best known from Skrew like - "Picasso Trigger" as well as "Jesus Skrew Superstar".

"Godsdog" is a composition with a palindrome-type title that stands out from the entire tracklist because of its larger than life sampling contributions as well as solutions borrowed from trance music.

In contrast to modern melodies presented by so called “industrial metal bands”, this huge, intense sound from Skrew describes the true elements of industrial metal at its the best, giving patterns to learn from and follow. The Dusted album is highly recommended for the fans of Ministry, Testify, N17 and American Head Charge.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, 12/16/2012 - update. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. This review must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)

Katarzyna NINa Górnisiewicz | Review submission: About | Suggest an artist

Shadow Of Doubt |Metal Blade, 1996|

01. She Said, 02. Black Eye, 03. Knotted Twigg, 04. Head, 05. Swallow, 06. Sam I Am, 07. Going Down, 08. Generator, 09. Dark Ride, 10. Crawl

It's been well known for quite some time that a well designed CD jacket with interesting artwork makes unit sales successful too. A burnt person with a malicious smile appears with gas mask eyes and the jaw of a skull that stares at you scarily from the Shadow of Doubt album cover. There is the mark of tie on this characters chest, but also an additional warm, yellow glow that makes this depiction as haunting as the most evil Jack-'o'-lantern. Thanks to such a remarkable illustration, this album may be picked almost instinctively by those in search of high intensity musical content and may stay in the memory of many fans for a long period of time.

Power, aggression, heaviness, dynamics and plain solutions. These five elements can shortly define the sound of this album. It should be underlined that it's yet another meaningful album from the Skrew discography.
There are a few outstanding songs as “Dark Ride”, “Sam I Am”, “Black Eye” and “Generator”, however all the other tracks don't sound disappointing in any way. The smashing power of guitars, bass and drums along with Adam Grossman's voice makes for a mixture of talent difficult to emulate or copy.

As usual, Skrew added a composition amongst the set of songs that was kept in a different mood from the rest of the album. “Crawl” has a blues ending along with a recited monologue that can only be understood when played backwards. This technique may have been a throwback to the occult accusations of artist such as Led Zeppelin and the Eagles in the 1970's who were accused of implementing subliminal Satanic messages into their music.

Shadow of Doubt was excellently produced by Neil Kernon (Nile, Dokken, Nevermore, Nihil, N17, Red Harvest, Deicide) while the mixing was done at another studio by the famous - Bill Metoyer (Slayer, Secred Reich, Corrosion Of Conformity, Deliverance, Six Feet Under). Moreover, Jed Simon (Strapping Young Lad) was a guest guitarist on the song “Knotted Twigg”. There's no shadow of doubt when it comes to the idea that an album with such a great line-up (and artwork) could have remained unnoticed.

Shadow of Doubt is a mandatory release for the fans of industrial metal music. It will help them realize how much the term 'new industrial metal' when inadequately glued to music made by other bands 15 years later, became flat and pared down when held in comparison to the original artist who made it something meaningful.

(Katarzyna 'NINa' Górnisiewicz, Fabryka Magazine, 12/16/2012 - update. Proofreading: Scott M. Owens. This review must not be used for promotional or commercial purposes. See a Legal Note for the copyrights below)