Georgian Skull front man, Alex Petrovich, talks music, dedication and the life of a musician

Every action has a reaction, and for every band unwilling to face their internal demons, Georgian Skull brings the doom and gloom a thousand times over.

Having recently been signed to Italian-based label Scarlett Records, and with their new album Mother Armageddon: The Healing Apocalypse set to be released this fall, it won't be long before the world worships all things Georgian.

For those that don't already know, this is not your run-of-the-mill heavy metal act. You have not listened to pure ferocity like this before, and never with this much soul. In a genre more focused on who's faster than whom, Georgian Skull abrasively rips apart the template and feeds it to the war pigs that birthed them.

In a Frankenstein-like creation, the band stitches together elements of the riff-laden godfathers of metal Black Sabbath, with a raw southern-tinged blues spirit clearly possessed by an unspeakable madness. Quite simply, this is the heaviest shit on the planet. Period.

Alex Petrovich, the Skulls mighty leader and creator knows all too well about the torment and sacrifice that comes along with leading the life of an underground sludge-king. Having produced and engineered the new album entirely on his own, you can bet that every ounce of fury is very true his vision.

Not unlike the Dark Knight himself, Petrovich channels all of his aggression and musical anguish into a symbol that embodies that which he represents (“The Yeti”) all while moonlighting by day the life of a Music Industry Arts student here at Fanshawe College.

“With school now, it definitely feels like the whole Batman/Bruce Wayne thing, you know. It is a double life,” said Petrovich in his signature baritone voice.

“The way we're trying to do things is basically to hold tight, let the album do its thing. We don't get paid a lot,” he said with a smile. “But it's something we love to do, and we're not stopping. I didn't start playing guitar to join a band; you know what I mean? I played guitar to fuckin' play guitar, I wanted to be like my heroes. You know, I was cool with doing it in front of a mirror for the rest of my life.”

This approach has helped Georgian Skull attract legions of new fans worldwide — those who have been waiting years for a band to fill that dark void in their life.

“There's always bands coming up to us or emailing us, you know, saying ‘we never thought we'd have a counterpart, we thought we were the only one's doing this.' It's a Brotherhood man,” Petrovich explained.

Something is very different this time around, though. With absolute thunder in songs like, “Hearts Burning” and “Demon Crippler” you feel a real sense of urgency, and without a doubt the albums themes of an ever approaching apocalypse pushes the atmosphere to borderline cryptic. The sense of urgency is relentless, and could provide the genre with a much-needed shot in the arm.

“You have to be able to feel the music,” Petrovich emphasized. “We've bled, man… sweat and tears are all over the record. Putting myself into dark places in my mind — consuming things — you know, on one side you're writing, and on the other you're living that lifestyle. Some nights going into isolation just to get in that frame of mind. It's a process.

“But for the type of stuff we do, it's like if people can get it, the ones that do is because of that; because it came through the dark spaces in your head, you know. It came through the music.”

With every sentence, the sense of pride and passion is evident within Petrovich's tormented mind. Where many would shy away from being that unabashedly honest with themselves, Georgian Skull embraces every facet of the human psyche and paints a chaotic battle that is constantly being fought from within. In that sense, the band has built up an electric church where lost souls can regain their momentum.

“I'm very comfortable with music being my religion, you know — music found me, I didn't find it; and it finds everybody else who thinks this way,” Petrovich said. “It's music man.”

Check out the guys tomorrow night (Saturday, September 6) downtown at ‘The Wick' across from the Greyhound station on Yorke and Carling. They'll be performing with Diablo Red and Angerkain, so you can guarantee a great night at one of London's most storied venues (19+ no cover, 10 pm).

For more information and a full sample of some tracks off the new album, visit Georgian Skull's website at www.myspace.com/GeorgianSkull.