Lizard Skynard, Skinned Lizards, Lizard skins…and oh yeah, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Finally, after exploring all the possible permutations of this bizarre name I decided to actually listen to it.
“FUCK ANDERSON COOPER…THAT MOTHERFUCKER HAS TO DIE,” was the first phrase to reach my ears as the intro tore its way through my headphones. This album was going to be great.
The most striking feature about this band is the sense of humor that permeates from the vocalist, Erik Sprague. Just in case you don’t know, he’s the Lizard Man that everyone knows best from Ripley’s Believe It Or Not with a surgically cloven tongue and green scale tattoos covering most of his body. He definitely took some notes from Henry Rollins and does mostly spoken word vocals. As far as the riffs go “Mossy” Vaughn, formerly of The Heavils, has that department covered. And cover it he does, with riffs of a dirty breed that really get down.
Lizard Skynard is refreshing in so many different ways. Yes, it is an experimental release and sometimes that can overwhelm a listener, but Lizard know when to surge forth and when to quit. This release, surprisingly, only clocks in at 28 minutes but it certainly feels much longer because of the unconventional song structures and Sprague’s out of control vocalizations. If you like to listen to creative metal that shuns stereotypes and embraces itself, give this a try.
In A Word: Quirky
