Rating: 9.9

Country: USA

Release Date: 2006

Track list:
1. Prisoner’s Creed
2. Sense Of Divinity
3. Darkest Hour
4. Interlude
5. Apart From Me
6. The Black Is Never Far
7. We The Unrighteous
8. Interlude
9. Masters Of Jest
10. Interlude
11. Lookin’ For A Reason
12. Relentless
13. Changed Heart

Band Website: Place of Skulls

Place of Skulls - The Black Is Never Far

Victor Griffin- Guitars, Lead Vocals
Dennis Cornelius- Bass, Vocals
Lee Abney- Bass on “We, The Unrighteous”, “Masters Of Jest”, “Changed Heart”
Chastity Brown- Saxophone on “Lookin’ For A Reason”
Tim Tomaselli- Drums

Being the jaded runt that I am, it is ALWAYS nice when my expectations are not only exceeded, but thoroughly, absolutely overwhelmed. I mean, COMPLETELY fucking eclipsed. In the three years since Wino and Victor Griffin channeled their collective genius into the monolithic meisterwerk 'With Vision', I have gone on to proclaim it as the finest thing Wino has done since The Obsessed, and that the album is, absolutely on par with, and arguably better than Victor's foremost moments with Peaceville Pentagram. Considering the fact that the discographies of Spirit Caravan and Pentagram Mark II have been venerated as hallmarks in the scriptures of doom rock, such a statement would, for any lesser band, be tantamount to sacrilege. Yet, repeated listens of 'With Vision' continually yield the same revelation- that the Victor Griffin of today has honed his songcraft to a point where it could not have hoped to reach in his days as wild-eyed, intoxicant-imbibing Death Row/Pentagram six-stringer. 'With Vision' is an unflinchingly personal, intimate record, warm, familiar and sensitive, yet pregnant with menacing riffing, an expedition into a realm where the lines between shade and light are irrevocably blurred. In short, an exceptionally human record. All this in mind, I had no idea where to set the bar for 'The Black Is Never Far', especially considering the fact that Griffin's alliance with Mr Weinrich proved to be a mere one-off thing.

However brilliant I expected this recording to be, let it be said that it supercedes and overwhelms any preconceptions or imaginings I had about it. I'm not necessarily going to say this is BETTER than 'With Vision', for it is far too early for me to foresee it having a similarly long run in my disc changer (two and a half years!), but there is absolutely no question in my mind that it is by far the most developed and most dynamic recording to bear Victor Griffin's name to date. This record is very much the next logical step in the evolution of Place Of Skulls- the acute sensitivity and unabashed ingenuity/soulfulness that has become the band's trademark is flaunted throughout the record, and the arrangements are sparser, barer, more linear, but somehow more imaginative.

Allow me to further elucidate what I mean here- while 'With Vision' could still be legitimately tagged as a doom rock record, being an album bursting at the seams with ponderous, ominous riffing, classifying 'The Black Is Never Far' is a far trickier proposition. Indeed, there is a modern sheen and accessibility to a lot of the material presented here, so much so that mid-period Soundgarden, Meat Puppets and vintage Alice In Chains would not be outlandish comparisons. This is, of course, not to say that this is a gormless retro-grunge outing from the erstwhile Pentagram warlock, for there is still a good amount of lumbering, elephantine riffing to be had. It's all just presented in a more ornate, more subtle, more delicate package, housed in a syrupy-rich and organic production job that begs for widespread radio airtime. Indeed, much like Soundgarden did, Place Of Skulls distil the essence of Sabbath -derived riff'n'roll, pare it to its minimum, and decorate its skeleton with a host of contemporary accoutrements and nuances , peppering it with leviathan hooks for maximum effect. The ultimate product is a record that is simultaneously contemporary and timeless, an affectionate ode to forefathers that have come before as well as a progressive look towards the future.

Opener “Prisoner's Creed” stampedes out the speakers like an armada of 'The Church Within' -revering biker thugs, while “Sense Of Divinity” indulges in more droning, agonizingly heavy riffing, the foreboding rhythms supplementing Griffin's urgent words of warning to a civilization inching towards the apocalypse. It would appear to be business as usual for Mr Griffin, until the crisp, sparkling clean, whispering guitar of “Darkest Hour” cuts into the mix, Griffin intersecting confessional, ghostly verses with lurching, mammoth-riffed chorus sections. Really GREAT stuff to be had here, Griffin again exhibiting the tastefulness and sophistication that he has progressively developed over the years, complementing the nakedly honest divulgences of the song with a simple, but incredibly memorable tune. “Apart From Me” flexes perhaps the most Sabbath- esque riff on the record before settling into a driving, dirty, crunchy groove that makes me think Dehumanizer thoughts. Percolating beneath the grinding, bristling riffs are melodic squalls of lead guitar, a persistent melody that echoes assertively beneath the proceedings.

Dennis Cornelius of Oversoul and the inimitable Revelation makes a notable return here, and his fluid, exceptionally musical basswork accentuates the track perfectly, playing it straight to add heft and depth to Griffin's doomier riffs before offering subtle counterpoints in other passages. Tim Tomaselli's playing, meanwhile is in-the-pocket and adequate, a perfect foil to the brilliantly bare approach of the recording. It all comes together, of course, in the apex of the record, the stunningly GORGEOUS title track, which for the most part is fuelled by cooing, mournful acoustic guitars, a spare rhythm and meandering, exquisitely clean bass. More than any song that he has penned to date, it is this track that best reflects Victor's lifelong love affair with country music as a medium for self-discovery and catharsis. Over a heartrendingly unpretentious track, Victor guides the listener through the torment latent within his psyche, one mired in doubt, loathing and aggression, and endeavors to exorcise his demons in a song that progressively gains momentum and swells into a bruising emotional outpour. Beautiful song, really, and possibly the finest song Mr Griffin has ever written, save for “Burning Saviour” (Interestingly, both those songs share similar dynamics and approaches, haha).

I do have to admit that the rest of the album does feel a TAD anticlimactic compared to such a monumental display of balladry, but I can, with absolutely no reservations, state that there isn't a duff track on this entire platter. “We, The Unrighteous”, in the span of 02:38, proves itself to be another exemplar of the ebb-and-flow, light-and-shade dynamism that is so prevalent on the record. “Masters Of Jest” is full-throttle adrenaline-fed motor-riffing, clearly the most definitively Griffin by way of Pentagram number on the menu, and as such perhaps my least favorite (though by no means BAD) offering on the recording, as it is certainly the most predictable, sounding very much like something off of 'Be Forewarned' or 'Nailed'. The solo, too, is vintage Victor Griffin- assertively distinctive and oozing with character and conviction. Equally straightforward is the reinterpretation of “Relentless”, which I feel is the SOLITARY expendable effort here, as I can't help but feel that as with most POS re-recordings of Penta- staples, I vastly prefer the original incarnation, something that I feel is somewhat attributable to my overwhelming affinity for Bobby's voice, which had hit another peak in the Peaceville period. The mix here doesn't entirely complement the surging, nasty, macabre feel of the song (it has to be underproduced and gritty like the first Peaceville record! Hah), and the lyrical matter is somewhat at odds with the rest of the record.

It really is hard for me, after probably my 52 nd listen in two weeks, to really express how necessary this record is for all heavy rock aficionados. It is compact yet epic, accessible yet adventurous, bare yet impossibly rich in emotional content, restrained yet daring, dark yet hopeful, anguished yet therapeutic. To me, it very much renews and updates lessons learned from a quartet of similarly-minded rabble-rousers from Birmingham, mining hope and strength from a wellspring of negativity. This is definitely going to be on my Top 10 list for this year, and might possibly head it. Instant classic.

April 30th, 2006