The Warlocks
Issue #34
Heavy Deavy Skull Lover (Tee Pee)
By Dean Ramos
Published: December 1st, 2007 | 2:49pm
While the Warlocks are hardly the first 21st century band to heavily draw from the sounds of decades past, few do it with the sheer authenticity that they do. On their fifth release, Heavy Deavy Skull Lover, the band traverses the same kind of dark territory that Michael Yonkers once did, but with a distinctly Velvet Underground kind of flair.
In the sinister opener, “The Valley Of Death,” guitarist Bobby Hecksher shows off his awesome axe expertise with some indescribable distortion that has to be heard to be believed. It is appropriately followed up by the distraught and similarly menacing “Moving Mountains.” Both share a spaghetti-western flavor. On the flipside, there are lighter Jesus and Mary Chain–infused cuts like “So Paranoid” and “Slip Beneath,” which bring a much-needed buoyancy to the record. The definite standout of the disc, however, is the garage-rock number ”Zombie Like Lovers,” where drummers Bob Mustachio and Jason Anchondo showcase their skills. Instead of a roar, however, the Warlocks choose to go out on a whisper, with the sleepy and romantic “Dreamless Days” and the acid-dipped lullaby “Death I Hear You Walking.”
So while scoring few points for originality, Heavy Deavy Skull Lover is an homage in the vein of a Quentin Tarantino movie: cutting to the best bits first and executing their music with such style and panache that it unequivocally becomes their own.
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