Gost Skull

Described as "Occult Pop" for fans of ELO, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac and Queen, the 9 track record from the Nottingham based "spiritual organisation" sees an expansion on the prog/psych/retro stylings and hook-heavy songwriting of the critically acclaimed debut "Is Satan Real?" (2016). Piano and vintage synths have been introduced alongside the Hammond organ, electric cello and six-part vocal harmonies, resulting in a sound that truly "puts the ABBA in Sabbath".

Church of the Cosmic Skull are a seven piece from Nottingham. The band describe themselves as an actual church, a religious movement who "seek to free mankind from their material possessions and unify all living beings into a singular cosmic whole…". You'd be forgiven for thinking this all sounds gimmicky and not exactly original; we've had bands in robes and such before, trying to reel us in with their cult-ish vibes and the promise of faux spiritual reveries, possibly followed by orgies and spiked punch. Plenty of bands have gotten mileage out of the 60’s and 70’s countercultures experiments and investigations into the great and spooky invisible, some continue faithfully in the same vein like Jess and the Ancient Ones and some revel in its glamour and darkness like Uncle Acid on their Mind Control set…

Skull Snaps is a legendary funk album that has long been shrouded in obscurity. The band recorded their self-titled debut and a handful of singles in 1973, then vanished without a trace. In recent years, their vinyl has become ubiquitously sampled and highly collectible. The monstrous break that opens up their classic cut, “It’s A New Day,” furnished the beat for countless hip-hop hits of the mid-‘90s. But despite all their widespread influence, there’s been almost no information available anywhere on the Skull Snaps. “It’s become a very mystique thing about us,“ says bassist and singer Samm Culley. “I think everybody who stole our music must have thought that we fell off the face of the earth because they didn’t hear anything from us at all. But we’re here, and ready to be heard.

Presentation has always been a central facet of Church of the Cosmic Skull‘s approach, arguably no less crucial to it than the lush vocal arrangements or tight-knit songcraft that have played out in such classically progressive fashion across their two prior albums, 2018’s Science Fiction and 2016’s Is Satan Real? With their third offering and first to be self-released through their own semi-real imprint Septaphonic Records, Everybody’s Going to Die, they bring their delivery modus to a new level entirely on all fronts, from the writing and execution of the material to the artwork for the album by Zorad, to the release method, to the theme and narrative creating of a kind of journey through a dogma of cosmic self-realization, or, as they put it, “The Psychic Ascension to Humanity,” played out across what they call ‘The Seven Objects

“For the Grateful Dead's second live album, released two years after its predecessor LIVE/DEAD, the band delivered an equally magnificent, but entirely different, Grateful Dead sound. Whereas LIVE/DEAD was a perfect sonic encapsulation of the band at the peak of their Primal Dead era, SKULL & ROSES captures the quintessential quintet, the original five piece band, playing some of their hardest hitting rock 'n' roll (‘Johnny B. Goode,’ ‘Not Fade Away’), showing off their authentic Bakersfield bona fides (‘Me & My Uncle,’ ‘Mama Tried,’ ‘Me & Bobby McGee’), and some originals that would be important parts of the Dead's live repertoire for the next 24 years (‘Bertha,’ ‘Playing In The Band,’ ‘Wharf Rat’).

Ever since Running Wild began to slide after their The Rivalry album, fans had been clamoring for a return to form and even after their reunion, things still hadn’t been quite fully back up to par yet. But a Swedish band named Blazon Stone sailed into the port with their fabulous Return to Port Royal album that emulated Rock’n’Rolf’s sound, just way better and more energetic than the original and now Argentina is throwing in a candidate for the “I sound more like Running Wild than Running Wild” contest in the form of Buenos Aires-based quintet Skull & Bones and their debut album The Cursed Island…