Judging by the title of the EP itself, it’s easy to assume that Bournemouth foursome Skeleton Kid will sound dark and depressed and, honestly, you’d be right. On their Myspace page (yes, they still have one) they describe themselves as a band that “will do anything and everything in the name of rock ‘n’ roll”. Unfortunately for them one thing they haven’t managed to do is produce an impressive EP.
‘Please Stay Dead’ begins with an epic marching drum beat and the pounding, heavy guitars you might hear from Metallica but descends into a confused mash-up of shouty, old-school punk vocals and a chorus that sounds like a desperate attempt – and failure – to sound exactly like AFI. The song just never seems to go anywhere and the dark subject matter of the lyrics seems soulless, sung with a complete lack of passion. It just feels like the band couldn’t care less what they were singing about and chose to talk about graveyards and cancer because somebody said it was cool once.
Looking like a cross between Aiden and your Dad’s friends dressed up on Hallowe’en, it seems that style is more important than substance to Skeleton Kid. ‘Rock Her Bones’ does nothing to prove there’s anything worth watching out for either as the same monotonous thrashing chords and dull vocals drag out for another three minutes.
It’s not all bad though. If you’re into your hair metal, ‘Empty Carriages at Midnight’ channels Black Sabbath and Iron Maiden, with an impressive intro and an addictive riff dishing out the highlight of the EP, but it’s pretty unlikely the band will be headlining Download any time soon (if ever).
Sometimes, as much as you’d love for a new band to be super awesome and well worth listening to, they just aren’t. Despite their impressively styled hair and brave attempts at entering the tough leagues of dark punk and metal, Skeleton Kid just haven’t quite got what it takes based on ‘The Graveyard Disciples’ a
KATHRYN BLACK