Skull
No Bones About It Skull II: Now More Than Ever HNE
End-of-an-era metal from long-time Kiss associate.
Bob Kulick is the shaven-headed Zelig of US hard rock, a man who has rubbed shoulders with Hendrix, stood in for an incapacitated Ace Frehley in Kiss, and played alongside Lou Reed, W.A.S.P, Meat Loaf, Was (Not Was) and Michael Bolton.
At the turn of the 1990s, the guitarist opted to step into the spotlight with Skull, a band he put together with members of his former band Balance. Their sole studio album, 1990’s No Bones About It (6/10), ladles on the brash MTV metal anthems like the 80s was going out of fashion – which is was. Still, at its finest it sounds like the best album postmake-up Kiss never recorded.
That album gets an unexpected, if not entirely unpleasant, reissue alongside Skull II (7/10), a collection of previously unreleased tracks that constitutes a belated follow-up if you squint. Ironically the second one edges it by a nose, despite its inconsistent sound quality, the rough-’n’-ready production enabling frontman Dennis St James’s powerhouse vocals to push through.
Together the two albums comprise more than 70 tracks, including demos and alternative versions – more than anyone except Kulick himself rightly needs – and are a perfect snapshot of an era that’s slowly fading into history.