Skeletal Family
Futile Combat

Let's bring some Skeletal Family to DeBaser.

The Skeletal Family is a post-punk band formed in Yorkshire in 1982, projecting themselves into that large constellation of bands that had taken the remnants of punk and were increasingly transporting them towards gothic territories. Inheriting their name from the track Chant of the ever circling skeletal family by David Bowie (from Diamond Dogs), the Skeletons are led by the captivating Anne-Marie Hurst, with strikingly dyed hair and a nice nostril piercing, who shortly thereafter would form Ghost Dance alongside guitarist Gary Marx, author and co-author of some of the most immersive tracks by the Sisters of Mercy, he too at the time having just left his mentor group due to disagreements with Andrew Eldricht.

In this tumultuous river that was the English goth scene of those years, with this their second LP, Skeletal defines and immortalizes their style, propelled by the moderately successful single Promised Land (their highest placement in the famous UK Indie Chart of those years) and they deliver a compact album, compelling from the first to the last track; Hurst, with her deep and shamanic voice, not shying away from sudden aggressive surges worthy of the punk that was (Far & Near), is the dark daughter of Grace Slick: here is the transfigured singer of Jefferson Airplane and here is her spirit sucked into tracks like the anthemic and raucous This Time, where the hippie America of the '70s is abruptly overlapped by a thrilling bad trip unfolding through the streets of mid-'80s England. The Skeletal takes post-punk to gothic territories but without giving up eclecticism (consider the sax in Move and the trumpet in What Happened?), through ten tracks that have the implicit aftertaste of psychedelia turned black, like the irrational dazzle of a journey far from an industrialized city, far from its rules and hypocrisies, and which nevertheless continues to haunt us with its shadow. Among post-punk, enthralling and industrial gothicism (the obsessive opening track, Hands on the Clock) and touches of black psychedelia, with tracks like the launch single (the aforementioned Promised Land), the Skeletal Family does not even disdain incursions into electrified and acid pop (actually, melody is a constant throughout the album), delivering us a classic quality gothic rock gem, an album that all post-punk lovers and their offspring should listen to at least once.