Skrew - Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame (1992)Release ID: 7145
Skrew is not a band you wanna screw around with. Their earlier material displays an industrial metal sound similar to late 80s Ministry, and it's no surprise considering the two bands working together. There are some interesting things about Skrew's debut Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame, such as the odd variation. While having some metal they would have more of in Dusted, the thrashy guitars are in the back of the line compared to the industrial samples. And this is high in quality for an early 90s album! Clearly, they learned from the guys who made The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste when it comes to the sampling > guitars approach.
And who's the leader of the pack? F***ing Adam Grossman, that's who! His vocals and guitars at the heart and soul of the band, as the percussion and riffs stay present. The issue is, the burning riffs keep getting doused by the drowning vocal effects that aren't use much anywhere else. Still it's slightly less repetitive than some of Ministry's songs. As proficient as the album is, they seem to lose that aspect when they add in some experimentation.
The intro "Orifice" is quite horrifying with indecipherable sounds of scared women and psychotic men. Then the title track unleashes as much industrial destruction as The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste. "Cold Angel Press" is the best in both the song title and the song itself, even bringing back the horror film vibe in the vocals. "Charlemagne" makes an incredible contrast between mellow psychedelia and headbanging speed. The moshing aggression goes on in "Gemini", which can almost be considered a blend of Ministry and Slayer. Pretty cool, right?
"Indestructible" attacks with more of that thrash, but with more brooding riffing. The darker "Feast" has a slower doom-ish tempo, with violent riffing that almost brings it to sludgy territory. There's decent shredding in "Once Alive", though a bit rough, but whatevs.
Rolling Stones classic "Sympathy for the Devil" is covered here. It's actually one of the coolest Stones song covers I've heard. They've done it much better than Tiamat had later that decade. However, Mick Jagger and his crew might not recognize it due to the post-thrash aggression and noise-ridden vocals, the latter compared to Jagger's soulful cleans. "Poisonous" is the most experimental track of the bunch, featuring hip-hop turntables and rapping that too awfully resembles N.W.A. That has immensely f***ed up the flow of the album as an out-of-place rap track! Another horrid case of trying to sneak hip-hop into an album's that meant to be just metal. "Prey Fish" is a relaxing album closer with emotional clean vocals, almost like an ambient ballad. Mellow yet interesting!
Having spent a couple years digging into industrial metal, I've gained more leeway in the genre than I would have when I was younger. Skrew would reform recently and have made a new album, but I'm more familiar with their songs from the 90s. Ministry fan should check out this album's industrial anguish, that is good, but mostly moderate....
Favorites: "Burning in Water, Drowning in Flame", "Cold Angel Press", "Gemini", "Indestructible", "Sympathy for the Devil"
