Bill Fisher, founder of Nottingham, England’s Church of the Cosmic Skull, has called the band a “twofold entity: a new religious movement … and a 7-piece supergroup.” What do you make of that? I’ll tell you what I make of it, having listened to said twofold entity–Church of the Cosmic Skull are by turns majestic and hilarious, bring back the glory days of seventies’ American progressive pop, and in general are the most transcendentally joyous thing to come along since “Dust in the Wind.”
Church of the Cosmic Skull are campy, write great pop songs with great pop hooks, dress in white robes like angels, and sing like angels too. They sound like a cross of Styx, Kansas, Queen, Electric Light Orchestra, and Abba. They make uproarious videos and pose on spaceships and live in the past and the future at the same time, which is what great progressive pop has always been about.
They also know how to rock out with blazing guitar solos, cool Hammond organ riffs, stacked and glorious mock-baroque tongue-in-cheek neo-gospel vocal harmonies, and lots of driving instrumental passages that occasionally cross the line into arena rock and heavy metal. And have I mentioned they write great songs? Just like the songs that kept me alive in the seventies.
Fisher has lots of things to say about music. “The song must come first. I am not interested in meaningless displays of technical ability.” Which is the essence of progressive pop. He also has lots of things to say, and I think he’s being serious, about his group’s spiritual mission. “We are a rock band and a spiritual organisation,” he told an interviewer, “who welcome all living beings with open arms.”
Which includes, presumably, emus! He doesn’t talk much about the band’s sense of humor, but I suspect that’s because he knows the spiritual angle is amusing but doesn’t want to break character. I could be wrong about that. Perhaps he’s as serious as a bishop, or Queen’s “Sheer Heart Attack.” But that doesn’t change the fact that his singing congregation has a wonderful sense of humor and every one of their songs winks, while their videos are laff riots.
Church of the Cosmic Skull are indeed a supergroup if you consider a band that has culled the best from Nottingham’s musical community a supergroup, and they’ve released four LPs since 2016, my favorite being their sophomore outing, 2018’s Science Fiction. But that’s no easy choice. It doesn’t include a big prog production number like “Evil in Your Eye” from their very happening 2016 debut Is Satan Real?, but then again “Evil in Your Eye” seems to have been a brilliant one-off—they’ve kept their songs shorter ever since, without sacrificing any of their progressive pop inclinations, as is clear from Science Fiction’s “Paper Aeroplane & Silver Moon,” which is prog right down to the paper aeroplane’s fuel system.
There isn’t a single bad song on Science Fiction, nor is there a song on Science Fiction that doesn’t take you back to a time when prog-lite was the music of choice of kids who wanted nothing to do with the kinds of boringly complicated progressive rock that was coming out of England at the time. I’m talking shit like quadruple Yes albums and neo-classical Emerson, Lake & Palmer albums and Genesis albums that I remember getting lost in because I was so stoned, which was terrifying because I wasn’t sure I’d ever get out. Now Styx, there was a band you couldn’t get lost listening to.
Title track and album starter “Science Fiction” opens with some cool organ and then in comes like a thousand voices (this album is all carefully arranged vocals) harmonizing like it’s 1976 and the band that comes to mind is Meatloaf, believe it or not, minus the mystery meat and shmaltz. Vocals and more vocals, alternating with whiz-bang instrumental passages, until the band goes into this cool Alan Parsons Project kind of interlude complete with heartbeat and cool organ riffs. And then they go back into this fast-paced section with vocals coming at you from all angles, and it’s great.
“Go by the River” opens with this cool guitar riff that’s soon joined by Hammond organ, and then in come the vocalists, smooth, omnipresent, and what a winning melody! “I’ve seen the coming of the storm” they sing over and over, until the organ does its thing and in comes this wonderfully slick guitar solo and the voices come back singing “Go by the river, go by the road” while other voices are singing “I’ve seen the coming of the storm” and that’s it—proof that complex vocal arrangements didn’t die with Fleetwood Mac.
“Revolution Comes with an Act of Love” opens with acoustic guitar and vocals. Then, in comes this heavy guitar riff and some really funky Hammond organ. The piled vocals follow, over which the electric guitar turns crazy circles. And it goes on and on, revolution, turtle doves, and that driving guitar all conspiring to set your pleasure circuits sizzling like bug zappers.
Album highlight “Cold Sweat” is a hard rocker with benefits. That guitar riff is tougher than my mom’s roast beef, the drums kick and buck, the organ is tres cool, and then in come the vocals pushing and pulling against each other, with the guitar and organ sliding in and out, and this baby is undeniable, Seventies gold, and when everybody comes in, singing, from here, from there, from the ceiling, “No you never talk about it,” it’s glorious.
“The Other” is a slow one, Pink Floyd light, with luscious vocals and a luscious melody and synth blips and this huge guitar, and meanwhile the vocals are getting bigger and bigger, and it doesn’t get much more Seventies dorm room cosmic than this. “Timehole (Gonna Build a Rocket Tonight)” is as high octane as you’d expect, with this wild guitar and stacked vocals and lots of crazy Hammond organ breaking through in the most proggish way imaginable. It’s like Uriah Heep meets Hawkwind meets sheer acceleration, and it never slows down. Set your controls for the lava lamp.
“The Cards That You’re Playing” is a slow, slinky pseudo-blues sans the usual vocal overload—Fisher just keeps singing the title over and over as electric piano and cello come in and out, and it’s so retro and archetypal you’ll swear you used to hear it on the FM back in 1977. Finally, the women in the band add gospel backing vocals, the organ plays some of the funkiest riffs ever, and Fisher tosses in a relaxed guitar solo that will mellow your mind. And on and on it goes, with one of the women going Pink Floyd wild.
“Paper Aeroplane & Silver Moon” opens with a big groovy church organ and Fisher giving it his all on vocals; it’s revival meeting cool and all soul, until a female vocalist takes over and then in come all of the female vocalists, until the drum finally kicks in and the song takes off, fandango chic. Then things totally switch gears, and suddenly it’s huge, all vocals and a luscious melody until the song shifts gears again which is to say this one is pure prog lite complexity, but you can follow the switchbacks and sudden shifts until you get to this cool instrumental section where the guitar runs amok only to have everything stop again. As for the big climax, it’s brilliant, enough to make your bong explode.
Closer “The Devil Again” features Fisher singing over a simple guitar riff, until he’s joined by the female vocalists and the Hammond organ, then in comes the drums. “In the end it’s just a game,” they sing, that and “Gonna go see the devil again,” and then Fisher plays this perfect guitar solo and it’s the greatest thing ever. Then things come to a stop, but wait! It takes off again, bigger than ever, with the vocalists all going at it and the Hammond organ playing a wild solo until a piano takes things quietly out.
The congregation of Church of the Cosmic Skull plays divine music for secular people, and I haven’t heard anything this Seventies groovy since, well, the Seventies. Playful, fun, a real lark—the beauty of Science Fiction is that it plays at being serious while screaming joke, but without sounding like the work of a novelty act. Kind of like The Darkness. I’m not a churchgoer. But when it comes to Church of Cosmic Skull, the only thing I can say is, take me to the river. I’m ready to be baptized.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A
