Viking Skull
Cursed By The Sword

June 2012
Released: 2012, Transcend Music
Rating: 3.5/5
Reviewer: Waspman

CURSED BY THE SWORD is the fourth go-round for U.K.’s resident drunken stoner nutters, Viking Skull. It’s my first time crossing their path, and after repeated blasts of this nearly-forty minute album, I feel as bludgeoned and tired as if I’d been out drinking with the band themselves.



See, Viking Skull is trying to be the dirtiest, greasiest, most inebriated rockers around, and damn it if they don’t succeed most of the time. Tracks like “Pumped”, “Machine Gun Honey”, and my personal fave, “This is the End” pulse with such down ‘n dirty energy that you want to chug a beer and go out with your buddies, blasting Viking Skull across the town. Clearly, there’s nothing complicated about the band’s riffs and melodies, but just as clearly, that’s not the point. The guys can play and get heads banging, and Roddy Stone howls and growls like Lemmy’s long lost cousin.



Like cheap beer, there are several tracks that leave a bad aftertaste, but hey, just skip to the next one and all is right again. Just make sure you leave the party at the “Second Left on Harris” and skip out on the dull doom of “Sleepwalk” which brings the festivities to a screeching halt.



The Viking Skull boys have made a name for themselves ripping out catchy drinking man’s metal songs and this latest album thankfully doesn’t change that. They’re always looking for the next party so grab a beer and join ‘em why don’tcha?