Skull Cult: Vol 1 + Vol 2 7" (new)

Skull Cult: Vol 1 + Vol 2 7" (new)


Tags: · 10s · Bf2019 · melodic · midwest · punk · recommended · spo-default · spo-disabled
Regular price
Sold out
Sale price
$6.50

We "invented" the DEVO-CORE so here is more for you freaks!

I couldn’t be happier. Here’s to another slab of goofy, shambolic keyboard punk from some of the best rockers Bloomington has to offer, this time with not one, but TWO jank-ass keyboards. I bring you Skull Cult: a newly-founded project from, assumedly, one of the bright minds behind Bloomington’s outstanding punk scene.

This “Vol. 1 + 2” EP compiles the first two tapes of the group’s efforts, and hot damn, is it fuckin’ GOOD. I’ve only listened to this record for a few days at this point, but Skull Cult has already grown on me just as hemorrhoids do on an overweight, sedentary, middle-aged man’s spotted asshole – meaning very easily.

“Vol. 1 + 2” a maniacal, goofy, utterly infectious synth-infused punk project with shameless songwriting. The hammy, omnipresent key tones sound as if they’re emanating from a Fischer-Price “Baby’s First Keyboard” that’s low on batteries, the vocals are discernably alien-like and hellbent on rattling your eardrums, and the bass and drums are so synonymously quirky and synchronized – this EP is insane in every sense of the word. If I’m gonna be honest, the clunky, dopey-ass guitar solos shoehorned throughout “WTTT” literally sold me on this entire band.

You need to jam this EP NOW, because Skull Cult is stupidly amazing. I don’t care what any of you nudniks have to say, Skull Cult is a movement I can fuckin’ get behind.


Our take: Another gem from the fertile Indiana scene, and if you like stuff like Coneheads, CCTV, and Liquids it’s probably more or less a given that you’ll be into this as well. Skull Cult have elements of a lot those bands’ sounds as well as some of their own tricks. The claustrophobic, direct-in-the-board guitar sound and manic rhythms remind me of Coneheads and the big melodies paired with hardcore tempos reminds me of Liquids, but Skull Cult’s 60s-sounding synth work (which often sounds kind of like a farfisa organ) is all their own, as are the almost demonic screamed vocals (which, despite their harshness, manage to carry more than a little bit of melody). I’m kind of amazed that they managed to cram so much music on this 7”—it could have been pressed as a 12” and I doubt that anyone would have batted an eye—but the value you for money that you get here makes this record feel weightier and even more worthwhile than it would have otherwise, and personally I find the listening experience of vinyl a lot more pleasurable than shuffling out a couple of short tapes. Throw in some downright iconic cover artwork and you have a real standout EP… grab this one now before it becomes another one of those things with shocking Discogs price tags.