Skull release 'Thoughts Of Others' LP

Leeds four-piece SKULL are set to launch their debut LP, THOUGHTS OF THE OTHERS, on 13 April via Shove It Up Your Cult Records. The album will be launched on the same day with a show at the 360 Club at Leeds Lending Library as part of #360RAW2, the second in a series of hand-picked events showcasing the best emerging talent in West Yorkshire.

THOUGHTS OF THE OTHERS is not a typical album. It traces a journey – a seemingly tormented journey – through a seemingly tormented mind. Some songs are interspersed with narration; others flow effortlessly into each other. There is no clear indication of whether these narrative thoughts are those of a character invented by Jonny, the lyricist and vocalist, or whether they are a true reflection of his own mind, but the emotions are palpably real. Lyrically, and narratively, we experience by varying degrees desolation, despair, paranoia, fear and isolation; leaving the thunderous riffs, the staggering drums and the skyscraping vocals to provide the joy, the elation, the salvation.

In their brief existence, SKULL have continued to harness the power and the dark humour they developed with their previously acclaimed band. Everything is released carefully, with consideration and with every fibre of their passion. There are no throwaway moments. Their debut single, RPM, is barely three minutes long but is stuffed to the brim with thundering rhythms, mesmerising guitars and a vocal that, despite its relative restraint, could and probably does strip paint from a distance.

LIGHTSWITCH, the follow up single, reveals a grinding rhythm that develops slowly and stealthily into a fury of lascivious guitars and drums, forever threatening to explode, as befits the song’s theme, into a thunderous climax. Towards the end it eventually does but not before the ebbs and the flows have again been explored, before finishing with a comedown that almost demands the obligatory cigarette.

THOUGHTS OF THE OTHERS TRACK LISTING