''Chapter Two'' is the second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by English

hard rock Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...

band

Viking Skull Viking Skull are a heavy metal band originally from Corby, Northamptonshire, England. Formed in 2002, the band currently features vocalist and guitarist Roddy Stone, guitarists Frank Regan and Dom Wallace, bassist Kevin "Waldie" James and Amer ...

. Recorded in

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

and

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, it was released on 8 September 2007 by

Filthy Note Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV reality stu ...

in the UK and DRP Records in the US. The album is the band's first to feature guitarist Julian "Jules" Cooper and drummer

Jess Margera Jesse Margera (born August 28, 1978) is an American musician. He is best known as the drummer of the rock band CKY, which he co-founded in 1998. Prior to CKY, Margera performed in the band Foreign Objects with former CKY vocalist and guitarist ...

, who replaced Darren Smith and Gordon Morrison, respectively, in 2006.

Background

Following the release and promotion of the band's debut full-length studio album ''

Born in Hell ''Born in Hell'' is the debut full-length studio album by English hard rock band Viking Skull. Recorded at Premier Recording Studios in the band's hometown Corby, it was released in the UK on 14 October 2005 by Grand Union Recordings. The US rele ...

'', Viking Skull's fate was brought into question when guitarist and drummer Darren Smith and Gordon Morrison left. By the end of 2006 both departed members had been replaced, with Julian "Jules" Cooper taking over guitar duties and

of CKY fame joining on drums. Margera has claimed that he unwittingly contributed to the lineup changes, causing members to argue during a night of drinking on his tour bus. Much of the recording for ''Chapter Two'' took place in

, Margera's home state, and was funded by the drummer. Margera's CKY bandmate, guitarist Chad I Ginsburg, engineered and mixed the album, alongside fellow engineers

Phil Nicolo The Butcher Bros. is an American music production team made up of brothers Phil and Joe Nicolo, originally based out of Philadelphia in the mid-to-late '80s. Together and individually, the brothers have produced albums for a wide variety of band ...

, Cody Cochowski and Tommy Joyner. Ginsburg and Unkle Matt and the ShitBirdz member Rich Vose performed additional guitars on "The Hidden Flame", while

Fireball Ministry Fireball Ministry is an American stoner metal band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1999. History Formed in Cincinnati in the late 1990s by James A. Rota II and Emily Burton, Fireball Ministry relocated to New York City before eventuall ...

frontman Reverend James Rota performed additional vocals on the song.

Promotion

In promotion of ''Chapter Two'', Viking Skull completed a short UK tour in January 2008 comprising six shows in

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; ) is the capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of Wales. Cardiff had a population of in and forms a Principal areas of Wales, principal area officially known as the City and County of Ca ...

and

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, with support provided by

Year Long Disaster Year Long Disaster was an American rock band from Los Angeles. Formed in 2004, the band was composed of vocalist and guitarist Daniel Davies, bassist Rich Mullins and drummer Brad Hargreaves. Hargreaves was later replaced by Rob Oswald, and gu ...

. The band also performed their first show in the US on 26 July 2008 at the Filthy Note Theatre in

West Chester, Pennsylvania West Chester is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough and the county seat of Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States. Located in the Delaware Valley, Philadelphia metropolitan area, the borough had a population of 18,671 at the 2020 census. West ...

, Margera's hometown. Customers who purchased the album from

CD Baby CD Baby, Inc. is a Portland, Oregon based online distributor of independent music. The company was described as an "anti-label" by its parent company's Chief Operating Officer Tracy Maddux. It was established in 1998 and offered distribution fo ...

in 2007 also received a free copy of the band's second

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

(EP), '' Blackened Sunrise'', as well as the

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song of the same name, which was directed by

Bam Margera Brandon Cole "Bam" Margera ( ; born September 28, 1979) is an American former professional skateboarder, stunt performer, television personality, and filmmaker. He rose to prominence in the early 2000s as one of the stars of the MTV Reality tel ...

. "Blackened Sunrise" was also featured on ''

Viva la Bands, Volume 2 ''Viva La Bands, Volume 2'' is the second music compilation album by professional Skateboarding, skateboarder and television personality Bam Margera, released on September 4, 2007. It features songs from some of Margera's favorite artists. The ma ...

''. In 2010, the album was reissued on

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl ...

featuring two extra tracks: "Skulls and Whiskey" and "Heavy Metal Thunder".

Reception

Keith Bergman of

Blabbermouth.net ''Blabbermouth.net'' is a website dedicated to metal and rock news, as well as album and music DVD reviews. It is run by the website's founder Borivoj Krgin. The first version of the website was launched in March 2001. In October 2001, the rec ...

awarded ''Chapter Two'' a rating of 7.5 out of 10, a higher score than he awarded to ''Born in Hell'' (6.5 out of 10). Bergman praised several guitar

riff A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based ...

s on the album (including "Blackened Sunrise" and "The Hidden Flame") as "flat-out fucking righteous" and claimed that ''Chapter Two'' was "a quantum leap over the band's debut, and ... a whole different beast". However, he did suggest that the album was "an odd mix of styles", and also called it "pretty basic and short".

Track listing

Personnel

*Roddy Stone –

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

*Julian "Jules" Cooper – guitar, production *Kevin "Waldie" James –

bass Bass or Basses may refer to: Fish * Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species Wood * Bass or basswood, the wood of the tilia americana tree Music * Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in th ...

, production *

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

, production * Chad I Ginsburg –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing, guitar (track 9) *Reverend James Rota – vocals (track 9) *Rich Vose – guitar (track 9) *

– engineering *Cody Cochowski – engineering *Tommy Joyner – engineering *Andrew Alekel – recording *Joel Metzler – recording assistance *Roger Lian – editing *

Howie Weinberg Howie Weinberg is an American audio mastering engineer. Over the course of his career, he has received over 2,257 mastering credits, three TEC Awards, 21 Grammy Awards, two Juno Awards, and one Mercury Prize. Career Weinberg mastered Herbie Ha ...

– mastering

References

External links

* {{Authority control Viking Skull albums 2007 albums