''Born in Hell'' is the debut full-length

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 at Premier Recording Studios in the band's hometown

Corby Corby is a town and civil parish in the North Northamptonshire district of Northamptonshire, England, northeast of Northampton. In 2021 it had a population of 68,164. From 1974 to 2021, it was the administrative headquarters of the Borough of ...

, it was released in the UK on 14 October 2005 by Grand Union Recordings. The US release followed the next year on 456 Entertainment, with whom the band signed in January 2006.

Background

''Born in Hell'' was recorded at Premier Recording Studios in

with producer Iain Wetherell and is the first Viking Skull release to feature vocalist Roddy Stone also performing guitar, following the 2004 departure of original guitarist Frank Regan. The album was released in the UK by Grand Union Recordings (on which the group had also released their 2003 debut EP ''

Chapter One Chapter One usually refers to a first chapter in a book. Chapter One, Chapter 1 or Chapter I may also refer to: Albums * ''Chapter One'' (Collage album) (1994) * ''Chapter One'' (Ella Henderson album) (2014) * ''Chapter One'' (John Sykes album ...

''), and the following year in the United States by 456 Entertainment, with whom the band signed a deal with in January 2006.

Promotion

In promotion of ''Born in Hell'', Viking Skull completed a short UK tour in June 2006 comprising four shows in

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

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 ...

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

and

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. This tour culminated in the band's appearance at the 2006

Download Festival Download Festival is a rock festival created by Andy Copping, held annually at the Donington Park motorsport circuit in Leicestershire, England (since 2003); in Paris, France (since 2016); at Parramatta Park, Sydney (since 2019); Flemington ...

. Prior to the release of ''Born in Hell'', " Rock & Roll Suicide", backed with fellow album track "Inject My Woman (With Love)", was released as the only

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

from the album.

Reception

Contrary to the critical acclaim of ''Chapter One'', media response to ''Born in Hell'' was mixed. Greg Prato of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

criticised the album for featuring lyrics which were predictable based on song titles such as "Crank the Volume", "Beers, Drugs and Bitches", "Dirty Dirty Hole" and "Inject My Woman (With Love)".

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 ...

writer Keith Bergman also identified the release as one-dimensional, describing it as "a short, silly, fun slab of heavy metal cliché", although he did recognise "some moments of genuine drunken headbanging fun".

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 ...

*Darren Smith – guitar *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 ...

*Gordon Morrison –

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 ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Viking Skull albums 2005 albums