Thursday, December 24, 2009

Skarhead - Drugs, Music and Sex

Combining NYC style hardcore, metal and hip hop, Skarhead are an intense 7 headed beast that first roared out of Queens, NY in 1995. The only way to describe Skarhead’s music is thugcore. Take a look at these guys. Do they look like they’re screwing around? Drugs, Music & Sex is the name of the album and it’s not just a catchphrase. You can tell that it’s their life. And if you don’t like it, than you’ve got a problem on your hands. Everyone likes to party, but Skarhead parties a lot harder than you. On their anthem “D.F.F.” (drink, fuck, fight) they let you know that they’re “fucked up on Saturday night, no one’s gonna tell us how to live our life.” Got it?

Vocalists Lord Ezec and Ceeekay Jones spit out their lyrics fast and furious with an obvious hip hop influence but never fall into Limp Bizkit territory. The guitars of Ak-Ray and Zach (aka White Wolf) are thick and metallic but mostly avoid solos and concentrate on tight, fast riffs. Mike The Gook thuds the bass and drummer Riggs bashes out furious beats. The music is loud and proud New York hardcore but with a strong metal influence similar to Leeway, Sick Of It All and even Ludichrist.

The subject matter is straight up street thuggery. “Fuck The Scene” opens the record and lets you know right away these guys don’t care about unity or being positive. One of the things that is often misunderstood about the violence that came from the NYC scene is that it truly came from the streets. These guys are not from the suburbs trying to be hard. They deal with all sorts of lowlifes, creeps and criminals on a daily basis. Scene unity is much easier to achieve when everyone has a safe bed to sleep in at night.

The songs are mainly fast thrashers, but slow burners like “Duck Down” are just as powerful. I can only imagine how intense the pit gets when they unleash this one in front of an amped up crowd. Eddie Sutton from Leeway guests on vocals. There are a lot of guest vocalists including hardcore legend Vinnie Stigma from Agnostic Front, Hatebreed’s Jamey Jasta, Armand from Sick Of It All among others in case you didn’t think these guys were legit.

If your idea of a good time doesn’t include angel dust, baseball bats and 40’s then you should probably stay clear of Skarhead. If you think you can hang, then consider yourself warned.

--Racer

Buy here: Drugs, Money & Sex


http://www.iscreamrecords.com/artists/view/37

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