Posted in Whathaveyou on October 28th, 2025 by JJ Koczan
I was fortunate enough to be approached by Todd Severin of Ripple Music (also an award-winning author whose novel, Deadly Vision, came out earlier this year) about this posthumous Eric Wagner 7″ a couple months ago, and wound up writing some short liner notes for the release. The main draw here is “Nothing But Blue Skies,” which is the last recording leftover from Wagner‘s solo album, In the Lonely Light of Mourning(review here), which came out through Cruz Del Sur in March 2022, following the Trouble and The Skull vocalist’s passing from covid-19 in Aug. 2021, and the yet-unreleased song is complemented by a cover of Trouble‘s “The Misery Shoes (Act II)” with Butch Balich (Penance, Argus, etc.) joining Wagner‘s solo band to pay homage.
For collectors, fans, and anyone who realizes the impact Wagner had across the decades of his tenure in the US doom underground, that is likely to be enough, and I’m not inclined to argue here. I don’t know if the liner notes are included with the 7″ or not, ultimately, but Severin put the following out abut the release yesterday and I wanted to give anyone who knows what they’re in for a heads up. Here you go:
Last year, I was approached by the members of Eric Wagner’s solo band, entrusting me to release the last song Eric recorded, at the time of his solo album, but left off that record. The band really wanted the song to be heard, and recorded a cover of the Trouble song “The Misery Shows (Act II) to be the B side in honor of his memory. I spoke to some of Eric’s closest friends, and all were on board.
So, now I’m thrilled to present to you, “Eulogy” in honor of Eric Wagner.
“Nothing but Blue Skies,” the final song recorded by Eric Wagner for his solo album, before his untimely passing. The legendary singer, and leader of Trouble cut a path through doom unrivaled by others.
Available on very limited 7″ vinyl. Release date December 12, 2025
Victor Arduini on Eulogy:
I finally can announce this release that I am honored to be a part of.
I was asked (actually I asked them 🙏..lol) to contribute the solo section for a mostly acoustic demo that was considered for Eric’s last album but was the odd song out and never completed. Then I had a recording of The Misery Shows (Act II) that was never fully finished so I got Dave Snyder to record the drums, Chuck Robinson to record bass & acoustics and my dear friend Kelly L’Heureux to add harmony vocals. But it was the vocals of my partner in doom Brian “Butch” Balich who sang his heart out and brought it all together.
Both these songs are very spiritual in nature and has deep meaning to me. Eric spent his life not afraid to speak his faith in God and I always connected with his insight and spiritual awareness. I’m blessed to be able to play a small part in this release and with all the musicians who took part. Shout out to Nick Bellmore for helping me produce it and making it shine. RIP Eric…This is for you🙏❤🙏❤
Posted in Reviews on April 11th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
When we’re keying down after an invariably long day at my house and it’s getting close to The Pecan’s bedtime, we often watch a “bonus-extra” video. Sometimes it’s “Yellow Submarine,” sometimes a Peep and the Big Wide World on YouTube, whatever. Point is, think of today like a bonus-extra for the Quarterly Review after last week. Sometimes we do an extra-bonus-extra too. That will not be happening here.
So, we wrap up today with this bonus-extra batch of 10 records, and yes, as always, I took it easy on myself in backloading the last day of the QR with stuff I knew I’d dig. It’s called self-care, people. I practice it in my own way, usually incorrectly. Nonetheless, here’s 10 more records and thanks for tuning in to the Quarterly Review if you did. Next one is probably early July.
Quarterly Review #51-60:
Crowbar, Zero and Below
Six years after The Serpent Only Lies (review here), New Orleans sludge metal progenitors Crowbar deliver Zero and Below, a dutiful 10-song and 42-minute collection that emphasizes the strength of the current lineup of the band. It should go without saying that more than 30 years on from Crowbar‘s founding, guitarist/vocalist Kirk Windstein knows exactly what he wants the band to be and how to manifest that in the studio and live, and he does that here. The real question is whether “The Fear that Binds You” or maybe even the later “Bleeding From Every Hole” will make it into the touring set, but those are just two of the candidates on a record that feels like it was expressly written for Crowbar fans with a suitably masterful hand, which of course it was. There’s only one Crowbar. Treasure them while you can. And hell’s bells, go see them on stage if you never have. Buy a shirt.
Joined by a litany of musicians and friends he at one point or another called bandmates in Blackfinger and Trouble, as well as Victor Griffin of Pentagram, Place of Skulls, etc., for a lead guitar spot, Eric Wagner‘s solo album, In the Lonely Light of Mourning, takes on an all-the-more-sorrowful context with Wagner‘s untimely death last year. And in many ways, the underlying message of In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the same message that Wagner‘s participation in The Skull for the better part of the last decade reinforced: he still had more to offer. He still had that voice, he still knew who he was as a singer and a songwriter. He still loved The Beatles and Black Sabbath and he was still one of the best frontmen after to do the job for a doom band. I don’t know what kind of archive exists of recordings he may have done before his death, but if In the Lonely Light of Mourning is the last release to bear his name, could there be a better note to close on than “Wish You Well” here?
Recorded and seemingly layered together over a period of years between 2016 and 2020, Ode and Elegy‘s self-titled debut features only its 55-minute eponymous/title-track, and that’s more album conceptually and personnel-wise than most albums are anyway. There are guitar, bass, drums and vocals, and those recordings began in 2016 (vocals were done in 2018), but also a string quartet (recorded in Minneapolis, 2017), a brass section and full choir (recorded in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2020), flute (recorded in London, 2020) and harp (recorded in Manchester, UK, 2020). What the Parma, NY-based outfit make of all this is an organic, neoclassical and folk-informed complexity worthy of headphones for its texture and encompassing in both its heaviest and its most sweeping sections. There’s a vision at work across this span, and from the Behemoth-esque grandiosity of the horns about 33 minutes in to the final payoff and bookending subdued melody, the execution is no less impressive than the scope behind it. The years of effort in making it were not wasted. But how on earth do you write a follow-up for a debut like this?
The thing about the jazzy break in the middle of second cut “A Fist for Crows” (as opposed to a feast?) is that it’s not at all out of place with the lumbering-but-moving heavy noise-rock-toned riffing or the big melodies that surround on Burn the Sun‘s first LP, Le Roi Soleil. After the relatively straightforward opener “Wolves Among Us,” it’s the beginning of the Athenian rockers showcasing their multi-tiered ambitions. “Fool’s Gold” is a short melodic heavy punk rocker, and those elements pop up again throughout, but “Severance” oozes into Deftones-y melody on vocals early and drifts out in psychedelia for much of its second half build, and there’s post-metal to be found in 12-minute closer “Torch the Skies,” but with ambient interludes in “Crawling Flame” and “The Calm Before,” even that’s not accounting for the whole breadth of the nine included pieces. Much to the band’s credit, they pull off their abrupt turns like that in “A Fist for Crows” and the later highlight “Tidal Waves,” while also keeping more charging aggression in their back pocket for the penultimate “Siren’s Call.” Some sorting out to do, but there’s a strong sense of identity in the songwriting.
A two-songer being offered up as a 7″ sacrifice presumably to the antigods of riffy lysergic doom, while, yes, also heralding the Leeds trio’s forthcoming second LP, Cosmology, Amon Acid‘s Demon Rider may be a bite-size slab, but it’s a slab nonetheless of tripped out doom, drawing on Cathedral in the title-track and bringing some of Orange Goblin’s burl to the still-spacious and freaked “Incredible Melting Man” in a whopping 3:43, as the founding UK-via-Greece duo of Sarantis Charvas (guitar, synth, vocals) and Briony Charvas (bass, synth) — as well as singly-named drummer Smith — follow-up their 2020 debut, Paradigm Shift, with a fuller and more realized shove. The synth does more work in their sound than it first seems, and together with the echoing vocals, it brings “Demon Rider” to a darkly psychedelic place. If that’s where Cosmology is headed as well, I guess it’s time to get on your possessed motorcycle and ride it into interstellar oblivion. You knew this day would come. Come on now. Off you go.
Those ever-reliable climbers of Weird Mountain at Forbidden Place Records snagged Mucho Mungo‘s gem of a 2020 debut EP, and with an extra track added, made a first full-length from Moth Bath that shimmers like a reinvented moment where classic prog and garage rock met. For a record that opens with a song called “Bear Attack,” the Madrid three-piece of guitarist/vocalist/keyboardist Marco González, bassist/vocalist Adrien Elbaz and drummer/vocalist/keyboardist Santiago Aguilera take a wholly unaggressive approach, digging into psychedelia only so much as it suits their movement-based purpose. That is to say, “Sandworm I” boogies down, and even though “Sandworm II” is comparatively mellow, there’s a space rock shuffle happening beneath those echoing space-out vocals. “Pocket Rocket” devolves in its sub-four-minute stretch but features some choice drumming and Galaga-esque keyboard sounds for atmosphere, while “Blue Nectar” captures a brighter jamminess and “The Moth” signals more cosmic intentions for what’s to come. Sign me up. Familiar sounds that don’t quite sound like anything else.
Bringing Swiss duo Sum of R into the realm of Finland’s weirdo-brilliant Waste of Space — Dark Buddha Rising, Atomikylä, Dust Mountain, a handful of other associated acts — by having founder Reto Mäder add vocalist Marko Neuman and drummer Jukka Rämänen from Dark Buddha Rising was not going to make Lahbryce any less devastating. And sure enough, “Sink as I” unfolds with a genuine sense of immersion-toward-drowning that the vague ambience of “Crown of Diseased” and the no-less-airy-for-being-crushing “Borderline” immediately expand. For its eight songs and 54 minutes, what was a tailor-made Roadburn lineup push deeper. Deeper than Sum of R‘s 2017 debut, Orga (review here), and deeper than many consciousnesses will want to go. The instrumental “The Problem” is actually less challenging, but “Hymn for the Formless” makes short work of the tropes of European post-metal while “Shimmering Sand” and the noise-laden “144th” once more spread out in terms of ambience, and closer “Lust” finally swallows us all and we die. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer species, and what a way to go.
Albatross Overdrive‘s third full-length, Eye See Red, opens with a hearty invitation to “Get Fucked,” and that is but the first of a slew of catchy, hard-edged, punk-informed heavy rock kissoffs. “Eye See Red” is duly frustrated as well, but as “Coming Down” suitably mellows out and “Been to Space” redirects the energy behind the earlier cuts’ delivery, there’s a feeling of the palette broadening on the part of the California-based five-piece, leading to the centerpiece “Bring Love,” the chorus of which sounds aspirational in light of the leadoff, and “Sagittarius” and “Fuente del Fuego” skirt the line between classic punk and biker rock, Albatross Overdrive continue the gritty and brash style of 2019’s Ascendant (review here) but find new reaches to explore. To wit, the nine-minute closer “Shattered” here reaches farther into melody and instrumental dynamic, bringing the different sides together in a way that’s genuinely new for the band while still having their core of songcraft underneath. They’ve well established themselves as a nothin’-too-fancy heavy rock act, but that doesn’t seem to be an aversion to forward progression either. Best of both worlds, then.
To a certain extent, what you see is what you get with Guided Meditation Doomjazz. The Austin-based outfit led by six-string bassist J. Blaise Gans aka Blaise the Seeker conjure a half-hour session, recorded mostly if not entirely live, with a direct intention toward high-order chill and musical adventuring. Across “Warm Me Up,” “Summer,” “Let Me,” “Down” and “It’s Winter Again,” the band — working as the trio of Gans, Greg Perlman and drummer Mathew Doeckel — are fully switched-on and exploratory, and the pieces carved from their jams are hypnotic and engaging. A check-in from a prolific outfit, but with the backing of The Swamp Records, Summer Let Me Down comes across as something of a moment’s realization, placing the listener in the room — all the more with the photography included in the download — with the band as the music happens. Immersion, trance, digging in, vibing, all that stuff applies, but it’s the hiccups and the letting-them-go that feel even more instructive. If you can remember to breathe, it’s just crazy enough to work. Made to be heard more than once, and serves that well.
Everybody’s favorite drone freaks Darsombra — who just might play your house if you pay them, feed them, allow them enough electricity and/or maybe sex them up a little — released the 7:50 single “Fill Up the Glass” on the last Bandcamp Friday as a 24-hours-only offering that was there and gone before I could even grab the cover art to go with it. Rife with spacey, spicy sounds, their interweaving of synth and guitar sounds improvised if it isn’t, rumbling and oozing at the start and drifting joyously into the cosmos over its stretch. No clue whether the song will show up on their next album — as ever, Darsombra are on to the next thing, which is a tour that begins at Grim Reefer Fest in Baltimore and some kind of special offering, presumably a video, for April 20 — but like all their work, “Fill Up the Glass” is evocative and a revelry in creative spirit, and if seeing this gets you on board with checking out any of their more recent work, then I’ll consider it a win regardless of this song’s availability over the longer term. But it is a cool track.
Posted in Radio on February 4th, 2022 by JJ Koczan
There’s a lot going on here. A lot to unpack, in the parlance of our times, but I’m gonna keep it short because I always feel like I screw these posts up by making it more than the list of bands and encouragement and thanks for listening that it should be. Hey, guess what? I think the songs I picked for the show I made don’t suck. If that wasn’t going to be the case, why would I pick them?
As for the voice breaks here, I barely remember what I said other than I was awkward. My wife was giving our son a bath at the time and I was worried he tub sounds would show up in the recording. That’s my rock and roll lifestyle. I’ve been considering a cocaine addiction so I can convince myself I’m fun again. Maybe go to a show.
Thanks for listening. Or reading. Whatever, really. Just thanks.
The Obelisk Show airs 5PM Eastern today on the Gimme app or at: http://gimmemetal.com.
Full playlist:
The Obelisk Show – 02.04.22
Author & Punisher
Maiden Star
Kruller
Purple Dawn
Death to a Dying World
Peace & Doom Session Vol. II
Eric Wagner
Maybe Tomorrow
In the Lonely Light of Mourning
VT
Madmess
Stargazer
Rebirth
Stone House on Fire
Waterfall
Time is a Razor
Hazemaze
Ceremonial Aspersion
Blinded by the Wicked
Spaceslug
Spring of the Abyss
Memorial
Mt. Echo
These Concrete Lungs
Electric Empire
VT
Slugg
Yonder
Yonder
KYOTY
Ventilate
Isolation
JIRM
You Fly
The Tunnel, the Well, Holy Bedlam
Carcaňo
I Don’t Belong Here
By Order of the Green Goddess
Ascia
Eternal Glory
Volume II
VT
MWWB
The Harvest
The Harvest
All Them Witches
Blacksnake Blues
Baker’s Dozen
The Obelisk Show on Gimme Metal airs every Friday 5PM Eastern, with replays Sunday at 7PM Eastern. Next new episode is Feb. 18 (subject to change). Thanks for listening if you do.
Posted in Whathaveyou on October 15th, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Obviously the March 2022 arrival of The Skull and former Trouble frontman Eric Wagner‘s solo release, In the Lonely Light of Mourning, takes on a broader, and frankly, sadder, context with his having passed away in August. I regret that I won’t get to interview him about this record. It is not Wagner‘s first solo offering, which would be 2015’s Highdeas Vol. 1 (discussed here) — just tried to buy the CD, couldn’t from his webshop — but this would seem to be more of an actual studio release rather than a collection of songs from over a greater span of time, etc.
There’s a ton of PR wire info below, including the tracklisting and comment from The Skull‘s Ron Holzner, who plays on the LP, in addition to a seeming host of other doom luminaries. Who wouldn’t want to?
Cover art and whathaveyou follow:
CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC To Release Ex-TROUBLE Singer ERIC WAGNER’s Posthumous Solo Album, ‘In The Lonely Light Of Mourning’
Cruz Del Sur Music will release legendary former TROUBLE singer Eric Wagner’s posthumous solo album, “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” in March 2022.
Recorded at Alpha Sound Services and Aardvark Recording, “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” was completed and delivered to Cruz Del Sur Music a month before Eric’s untimely passing. Initially scheduled for a November 2021 release, Cruz Del Sur Music — in cooperation with Eric’s manager, Mike Smith — agreed to move the release date to March 2022 to give it the attention it deserves.
“It has been a great honor to have the chance to work with Eric,” says Cruz Del Sur Music owner Enrico Leccese. “He has been a reference in my life since, as a fan, I bought his Trouble albums back in the 1980s. I must give WHILE HEAVEN WEPT’s Tom Phillips 100 percent credit for Cruz Del Sur Music being able to release Eric’s solo album. Eric really put all himself, his passion, his deepest emotions and his skills into this release. I must also thank Mike and Ron Holzner for the extremely mature talk we had after Eric’s passing. His loss has been a tragic event and we hope that this album gives justice to his career.”
The solo endeavor — a long-time goal of Eric’s — serves as a fitting testament to one of doom metal’s most respected voices. Eric tapped former TROUBLE/current BLACKFINGER drummer David Snyder to help him assemble the album’s eight cuts. Along the way, Eric brought in some of his favorite musicians as guests — including past and present members of TROUBLE, Blackfinger, The Skull, LID, Pentagram, DEATH ROW and PLACE OF SKULLS.
“In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” travels down Eric’s hallowed, familiar doom roads, flanked by melancholic acoustic guitar arrangements. It makes for an album of color, depth and heaviness that will please fans of Eric’s work. “I’d say this album is an amalgamation of TROUBLE, BLACKFINGER, LID and THE SKULL,” says Phillips. “There’s a little bit of each all swirled together. Basically, there’s a little something for everyone!”
“He was excited about the songs,” adds Snyder. “He and I worked on this project for a little over four years. It took that long, mostly because we did it over the phone. Either he would be in Chicago or New Mexico, and I’m in West Virginia, so I’d send him demo riffs, and if he liked something, he’d give me arrangement ideas, and I’d re-demo to fit his vision to place the lyrics. I already miss the process of working with him! Before Eric left for the last THE SKULL tour this summer, he told me about the record and said, ‘It jams. I’m turning it into Cruz.’”
Smith says that if Eric was ever going to do a solo record, it would need to involve the people he’s worked with — and some he hasn’t. The wealth of guest musicians explains why he was particularly excited about having a “family reunion” that tapped into nearly every era of his storied career.
“We have guests representing every band Eric has worked with over the years, and even extended family member Victor Griffin, which really brings things full circle,” says Smith. “This was not the original plan by any means, but as the process started to unfold, it became apparent that this was exactly how it should be. How it was meant to be.”
Eric’s THE SKULL and former TROUBLE bandmate Ron Holzner, guests on the album. Ron says “In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” was “more personal” to him than his BLACKFINGER and LID output, two albums that enabled the frontman to work outside of the boundaries of TROUBLE.
“The LID record [1997’s ‘In The Mushroom’] was a break from Trouble and his first tastes of freedom. The BLACKFINGER records were more of a sideband to express himself differently than THE SKULL. It’s been a long journey lyrically for Eric and his story was coming towards the end. He sensed his time was short. The new record was his career coming full circle, in a sense. He included musicians from all his records and never intended this record to be a band. It was more a solo record than anything he ever did before. He needed to share his journey since this record was to be the end — he was contemplating retirement. The new THE SKULL record would be the epitaph to his story.”
Eric’s untimely passing this past August left behind a musical legacy that has influenced countless bands while providing comfort and solace for those impacted by his lyrics. Alongside Candlemass, TROUBLE is arguably the most impactful post-BLACK SABBATH doom band. Their first four albums are undisputed classics, making Eric the solitary voice for the downtrodden and disaffected.
“There’s no doubt that he will be rightly remembered as one of the most iconic voices of metal — not just doom metal considering he had the power to traverse anything he sang over from psychedelic to somber, from acoustic tenderness to bone-crushing metal,” says Phillips. “Of course, he’ll always be tied to the legacy of TROUBLE and thus, considered by nearly everyone — including myself — as one of the founding fathers of the doom metal genre. But for those who knew him, we’ll also never forget his laid-back personality, sense of humor and ‘Eric-isms.’ It’s a staggering and totally unnecessary loss, but he lived by his own rules and spent 2021 doing all of the things he loved doing the most, so there’s some solace in that.”
“He did what he wanted, said what he wanted, lived like he wanted and wrote what he wanted…his way,” says Holzner. “He touched a lot of souls with his life and death.”
“He was a friend to everyone he met,” adds Snyder. “He always would hang out with fans and, through his music, helped a lot of people through tough times, including myself. His lyrics were always thought-provoking and his voice was one of a kind. When you heard it, you knew it was Eric Wagner! Ultimately, his legacy to me is his work with TROUBLE. I am eternally grateful to have been close to him at times, to have finished this record and to have worked with what many call the ‘Godfather of Doom.’”
“Eric was a dear friend, and I miss him immensely,” closes Smith. “This solo album became so much more than we initially expected, and I hope fans will be able to listen with open hearts and realize how lucky we all were to have Eric in our lives. When Eric and I signed off on the album back in July and delivered it to Cruz Del Sur Music, Eric said something I will never forget: ‘If this were to be my last one, it’s a perfect final chapter to the story.’”
“In The Lonely Light Of Mourning” track listing: 1. Rest In Place 2. Maybe Tomorrow 3. Isolation 4. If You Lost It All 5. Strain Theory 6. Walk With Me To The Sun 7. In The Lonely Light Of Mourning 8. Wish You Well
Posted in Features on August 23rd, 2021 by JJ Koczan
Former Trouble and current The Skull vocalist Eric Wagner has died of pneumonia brought about by Covid-19. His son, Luke Wagner, confirmed on social media. It is impossible to estimate the devastation that Wagner’s loss means to the international underground community at large, but it nearly goes without saying that he was a legend in his own time with a career spanning more than 40 years behind him, as well as someone continuing to do pivotal work in doom metal today.
As part of Trouble, Wagner was essential in defining the trajectory of American doom. Early albums through Metal Blade Records like 1984’s Trouble/Psalm 9, 1985’s The Skull and 1987’s Run to the Light set forth a blueprint that many still follow today, and even as Trouble shifted into more heavy rock and classic rock-minded fare on their 1990 self-titled, their efforts remained no less crucial, with Wagner’s Beatles influence becoming all the more defining on 1992’s Manic Frustration and 1995’s Plastic Green Head, which would be his final album with the band until 2007’s Simple Mind Condition.
Always creative and a songwriter in his own right, Wagner would work across multiple outfits at a time, whether it was the collaboration Lid with Daniel Cavanagh of Anathema or his 2004 participation in Dave Grohl’s Probot project, which helped introduce his voice and style to a broader audience prior to his return to Trouble for what would be his last full-length with the band. In the years following his departure from Trouble, Wagner went on in 2012 to found The Skull alongside guitarist Lothar Keller and fellow Trouble veterans Ron Holzner (bass) and Jeff Olson (drums), first as an homage project and later one with original material.
The Skull’s two full-lengths, For Those Which Are Asleep and The Endless Road Turns Dark, would see release in 2014 and 2016, respectively, through Tee Pee Records. Blackfinger, which would become something of a side-project as The Skull took priority, also released two albums, in 2014’s self-titled and 2017’s When Colors Fade Away, with the acoustic solo collection, Highdeas Vol. 1, arriving in 2015.
It was reported late last week that Wagner, who contracted Covid-19 while on a co-headlining tour with The Skull and fellow landmark outfit The Obsessed, had entered the hospital with Covid pneumonia and that remaining live dates including a slated appearance at Psycho Las Vegas were canceled. He was, again reportedly, unvaccinated.
He was someone whose work was immediately identifiable, and his influence is spread across generations of music from all over the world. It is impossible to hear his voice and not know who’s performing, and on stage, he brought a sense of character and even at times humor to his presence that was inimitable and spoke to his Chicago roots. He may be best remembered as Trouble’s singer, but the arc of his career would find him inspiring others multiple times over, and his passion for what he did was no less inimitable than the voice that was so much his own. If it is impossible to rank the scale of his influence, that is because it continues to spread.
As somebody fortunate enough to interview Wagner on several occasions and to see him live on many more, I offer sincere condolences on behalf of myself and this site for whatever that’s worth to Wagner’s friends, family, bandmates, and any other associates. In my experience, he was a sweet, humble man who understood his place and at least some of what his work meant to others. Of his feelings on Trouble after leaving the band, he told me in 2011, “Those four guys are the only ones who know what it was like to do what we did… I can talk to them and they know exactly what I mean and what it felt like and what we went through.” It was a moment of rare perspective that still resonates a decade later.
Posted in Whathaveyou on December 18th, 2015 by JJ Koczan
Apparently it’s been a busy couple weeks for Eric Wagner. The former Trouble vocalist has got a new solo album out, an acoustic release called Highdeas Vol. 1 that seems to be drawn from demos and raw versions of material that would later be developed for records by his current bands The Skull and Blackfinger. A self-release put on sale in Wagner‘s BigCartel store, it’s available now, which if you’ve ever heard him sing is probably about all you need to know to make you click onward to a purchase. Fair enough.
In addition to that, The Skull have added guitarist Rob Wrong of Witch Mountain to their lineup, which, frankly, was something of a surprise. Wrong takes the place of sometimes-Pentagram axeman Matt Goldsborough alongside The Skull‘s Lothar Keller, Wagner, bassist Ron Holzner and drummer Sean Saley, the latter of whom is also a Pentagram expat. The Skull also recently filmed a hometown show in Chicago for who knows what purpose, and will head out on a rather extensive European tour come Spring that includes a stop at Roadburn 2016. I’m assuming they’ll head back to the US sometime between, but they’ll also be appearing at Hellfest in France come June.
Like I say, a lot going on for Wagner, who posted the track “An Absurd Jurisdiction” in order to get word out about the release of Highdeas Vol. 1. Find the cover — reminiscent of some self-released Trouble live records from years past — album info, links, and of course the song itself, below:
The legendary voice of Trouble, Blackfinger, and The Skull, Eric Wagner enters the studio with nothing more than his acoustic guitar.
“Highdeas Vol. 1” is a collection of early song drafts that would eventually become part of The Skull and Blackfinger. Just Eric and his acoustic. Released 2015.
1. On Tuesday Morning 2. Trapped Inside My Mind 3. Ima Ghost 4. All The Leaves Are Brown 5. An Absurd Jurisdiction 6. Here Comes The Rain 7. My Many Colored Days 8. Yellowood 9. Heaven 10. As Long As I’m With You
Posted in Bootleg Theater on September 17th, 2013 by JJ Koczan
I don’t know about you, but I’m really excited at the prospect of a studio album from The Skull. The band recently announced they’d be recording this fall with Billy Anderson, and it just seems like they’re doing a lot of things the right way, playing fests like Days of the Doomed and Stoner Hands of Doom last year and the upcoming Fall into Darkness and Denver Doom Days to keep momentum going while continuing to get tighter and move forward. It’s cool to see and bodes well for the Trouble offshoot that features vocalist Eric Wagner, bassist Ron Holzner and (most recently) drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson as well as guitarists Michael Carpenter and Lothar Keller (both also of Sacred Dawn). Having seen them on stage a couple times, I’ve got my fingers crossed for what they can bring to a new record. They’re certainly in good hands.
Olson‘s first show with The Skull was this past weekend at Tequila Jaxx, and as it invariably must, video footage has surfaced of the performance. Taken from Trouble‘s 1985 outing, The Skull— which I guess for this band would be a self-titled? — “Wickedness of Man” finds the drummer fitting right in on parts he played 18 years ago. Earlier 2013 found Olson on keys alongside Victor Griffin in In~Graved, so I guess it goes to show you never quite know where you’ll wind up by the time a year is out.
Continued success. PR wire info follows the clip below:
The Skull, “Wickedness of Man” Live at Tequila Jaxx, 09.14.13
THE SKULL featuring original TROUBLE members vocalist Eric Wagner and drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson alongside the band’s longtime bassist Ron Holzner with SACRED DAWN guitarists Michael Carpenter and Lothar Keller peformed at Tequila Jaxx this past Saturday, September 14 in Mentor-On-The-Lake, Ohio. Fan-filmed video footage can be seen [above]. This is the band’s first performance with Jeff “Oly” Olson.
As previously reported, Olson rejoined THE SKULL last month stating: “I know that I’ve mentioned that I wouldn’t perform TROUBLE’s music anymore unless it’s with the other original members, but I’ve had a change of heart. I want to rock again.”
THE SKULL’s debut CD will be produced by Billy Anderson (HIGH ON FIRE, SLEEP, NEUROSIS) this autumn in Portland, Oregon and will be released via as-yet-undetermined record label.
Posted in Whathaveyou on August 29th, 2013 by JJ Koczan
Blackfinger‘s self-titled debut has been a while in the making for sure. Former Trouble and current The Skull frontman Eric Wagner discussed the project’s first album in an interview late in 2011, saying then that it was being mixed, so unless that took more than year — which is possible, certainly — the record has probably sat for a bit while the circumstances of its release were sorted. To that end, the band has signed with The Church Within Records (see also Serpent Venom, Seamount, Beelzefuzz, etc.) out of Germany for the physical, CD/LP editions, and while an exact issue date has yet to be announced, for sure that’s progress. Between Blackfinger, Earthen Grave, The Skull and the actual new Trouble record, 2013-2014 is shaping up to be quite an era for Chicago’s most legendary doom export, its current and former members.
The PR wire had this to say:
Eric Wagner’s BLACKFINGER Sign Worldwide Deal; Reveal New Teaser Video
From Mercyful Mike Management & Production:
“We are extremely pleased to announce that BLACKFINGER, featuring former TROUBLE vocalist Eric Wagner, has signed a worldwide deal with Germany’s prestigious Church Within Records. The mastered album is being delivered to Church Within as we speak, and the CD and Vinyl versions are expected out by the end of the year. An exact release date will be announced soon. A full tour in the support of the album is being discussed, and will be reported on as things fall into place. Until then, be sure to check out the new BLACKFINGER promo video from Kathy Reeves Productions below.”
As reported earlier, Dark Star Records will be handling the digital release of the BLACKFINGER debut, which will be available on the official release date of the CD/LP.
The debut album, with its many peaks and valleys of heaviness and melancholy, along with Wagner’s signature vocals, will mark the singer’s first recorded output since Trouble’s 2007 release “Simple Mind Condition.”
The track listing of “Blackfinger” is as follows: I Am Jon Yellowood Why God On Tuesday Morning As Long As I’m With You Here Comes The Rain My Many Colored Days For One More Day All The Leaves Are Brown Til Death Do Us Part Keep Fallin’ Down
Keep updated with all BLACKFINGER news by visitingwww.blackfinger.net. Stay tuned!
