Review: Place of Skulls – As a Dog Returns

Victor Griffin is a powerful name in the doom world, having previously played in Cathedral, Pentagram and Death Row. His current project, Place of Skulls, released their second album As a Dog Returns in April this year. The name derives from a biblical name for Golgotha, and the music, straight up, modern doom metal of the best kind.

As a Dog Returns, by Place of Skulls

What immediately impressed me about this album was the way the drums – often neglected in slower metal songs – create the atmosphere of the songs with clever ton fills and unexpected flourishes. The deep, almost tribal sound evoked throughout the album gives it a real gothic atmosphere. Aside from the drums, As a Dog Returns has everything that makes a doom album good – the slow, penetrating riffs, the clever song constructions that change tempo at just the right moment, the prominent bass and the deep, wallowing vocals.

The opening track, The Maker, is, in my opinion, the standout track on the album. Have a listen:

For a doom, sludge album, the guitars sound clean. So clean, in fact, they allow the vocal track to stand out. And here begins my one niggle with this album. Unfortunately, it’s a bit of a major niggle.

Have you ever heard The Project Hate MCMXCIX? They’re an amazing industrial gothicky death metal from Sweden, with the main creative drive from Lord K. Philipson (ex-Dark Funeral, Torture Division, House of Usher, Misery, etc) and Jörgen Sandström (ex-Torture Division, Krux, Vicious Art etc). We heard their 2007 album In Hora Mortis Nostræ playing in a record shop in Oslo and brought it off the strength of the first song, and it did not disappoint. Often, more extreme metal that attempt to mix electronic sound comes across weak. The Project Hate deliver a punishing selection of death metal riffs and industrial elements. Musically, there is not a weak moment on this album.

The one downfall of this album, and the other Project Hate MCMXCIX songs I’ve heard, are the lyrics. They’re overtly Satanic, with charming passages such as “the Christian Scum is Dead” and “I spit sulphur in the face of Christ.” They’re just too much,, too OTT, and the ridiculousness of the lyrics overpowers the strength of the music. Maybe it would appeal to me more if I happened to agree with their anti-Christian stance, but Christ was, by all accounts, a swell guy. Mostly, it bothers me the lyrical message doesn’t actually get much deeper than “I spit sulphur …”, and I find it quite jarring. It’s all been said before, and much more eloquently.

As a Dog Returns suffers from a similar, and yet completely opposite problem.

This is an overtly Christian record, which I don’t recall reading about in the press release, otherwise I might not have given it a listen (which would have been a shame, since it’s really quite good). But the lyrics jar you away from the music, especially on tracks like “Psalm”, “He’s God” and “Though He Slay Me” (a song that would not be out of place in a worship band). I think some of these songs would have been musically more effective if the lyrics spoke about personal struggles rather that out-and-out worship. Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I’m just being picky. Simply because of the lyrics, it’s an album I can’t listen to in it’s entireity. I’ve got “The Maker”, “Timeless Hearts” and “Dayspring” on my iPod right now, but that’s about all of the saving I can handle, thank you.

Check out Place of Skulls on their website and myspace page.