Kreyskull. Now, the first thing that comes to mind for a child of the 80s such as myself is the fat that the band's name sounds a lot like Grayskull, as in Castle Grayskull from the He-Man-franchise. And that's already a couple of cheap points scored in my book.
But what about the music on this album? Well, Kreskull have found quite the niche in their combination of 70s hard rock and doom metal – a style which they have dubbed "heavy rock 'n' doom", and their doom rock definitely works. The combination of 70s hard rock groove and the heaviness of doom metal ammounts to two handfuls of hard rocking tracks, and both the uptempo and downtempo ones rock hard and convincingly. To top it all, the guitars have a fat and crunchy distortion that is so heavy that it should make most sludge metal acts green with envy.
If you like hard rock with heaviness beefed up to the nth degree and a slight touch of psychedelia, then Kreyskull's Year of the Octopus is the way to go.
Tracklisting:
1. The Czar of Rock 'n Roll
2. Preacher & The Devil
3. The Island of Dr. Mondog
4. Selling the Sadness
5. The Maze (That Satan Built)
6. Year of the Octopus (Part One)
7. Wicked Lady
8. Back to the Island
9. Carnival Nightmerium