#danny cavanagh

Trouble: The Skull (1985)

Eric Wagner, the longtime frontman with leading American doom outfit Trouble sadly became another victim of the Covid-19 pandemic when he passed away this past August 22nd, at the age of 62.

And while this hardly offers any consolation, it turns out that one of the “benefits” of playing in a doom band -- and a Christian doom band, at that -- is that your body-of-work automatically serves as a perfect, even poignant requiem when your time comes ... in your own words, no less!

Trouble’s discography provides many excellent “musical requiems” to choose from, but I decided to celebrate Wagner (maybe not the best voice of his generation, but certainly among the most distinctive) with a return visit to his band’s seminal sophomore album, The Skull, which later lent its name to Eric’s longest-running post-Trouble endeavor.

Writing in the All-Music Guide many years ago, I quipped that, having set back the cause of heavy metal a good 15 years -- in the best possible sense! -- with their fine, eponymous debut (later born again as Psalm 9), Trouble might have been expected to show some musical evolution on The Skull.

But, instead, the Chicago quintet (completed by guitarists Bruce Franklin and Rick Wartell, bassist Sean McAllister and drummer Jeff Olson) simply doubled down on their authentic, Black Sabbath-inspired power chords, gritty, analog production and, unique to Trouble's template, Christian lyrical themes. 

With its vintage, lumbering doom majesty, first track “Pray for the Dead” sounds all the more relevant in light of recent events, but the surprisingly energetic “Fear No Evil” took things to another level with its start-stop riffs, stellar soloing, and memorable chorus.

Next up, the eleven-minute “The Wish” was Trouble’s first (and last) attempt at truly epic songwriting, but its excessively ambitious arrangements and severe detours into medieval acoustic guitars and string orchestrations frankly overshot the band’s songwriting comfort zone.

Not so the brilliantly gloomy harmonies of “Wickedness of Man,” but not-quite-exceptional second half offerings like “Truth Is / What Is,” “Gideon” and the title cut suggested that perhaps Trouble could have used a little more time to prepare for The Skull.

As it stands, Trouble’s second LP fell slightly short of their debut, in my opinion, yet I’ll still vouch for it all day long as a semi-essential recording in the ‘80s American doom canon, and a justifiably proud accomplishment in Eric Wagner’s surviving discography.

Speaking of: if you haven’t already, be sure to check out Wagner’s one-off doom/psych side project, Lid, with Anathema guitarist Danny Cavanagh and their 1997 album, In the Mushroom, as well as Eric’s cameo on Dave Grohl’s star-studded Probot project via the excellent “My Tortured Soul.”

Rest in peace, Eric, and I may be an unbeliever, but I’ll go ahead and quote the verse from Ephesians 4:31-32 that was chosen for The Skull’s rear sleeve:  

“Let all bitterness and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and slander, be put away from you, with all malice. And be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”

Anathema

1991