Story by: Matt Robeson Martin
Skull Creator is the new album by C. Ross (Chad Ross) of the Canadian bands Comet Control, Quest for Fire, Nordic Nomadic, and the Deadly Snakes. Recorded at the Balloon Factory in Vancouver, British Columbia by Joshua Wells, the album has a very cosmic acoustic style production that permeates across the album as a whole. Each song is uniquely different. However, the lush, mellow production dresses each track differently, like they were all cut from the same mold. This would be a soundtrack to a rainy morning, with chill vocals resting perfectly atop the lush acoustic production of each track. Sweeping synths on some of the tracks over the top of nice finger-picked guitar bring memories of some of your favorite Nick Drake songs. The Songwriting stands on its own with elements of light synth and strings on almost every track. The album starts off with a nice, cosmic long wave slide guitar with the drums kicking in for the second verse, and with a nice build as Ross tells us not to “Believe a word I say.” However, the lyrics range from clever to insightful. The album can’t help feel personal as the lyrics are front and center with no other instruments overpowering them or getting in their way. The second track, “Taking a Dip” is my standout favorite of the album with more of that Rainy day vibe with a nice phased out guitar bridge. “Wrong Side of the Sky,” with its deep bass and haunting violin, is the first single from the album with a trippy DNA activation music video. The album title track “Skull Creator” is also very relaxed yet epic at the same time, while “The Stranger” is just good songwriting, and the arrangement also keeps with the production theme found throughout the album.
“On Golden Pond” is even chiller than the rest of the album, starting off with the sounds of a campfire by a lake to evoke the connection to nature. “Way Too Nice” is the most “rock” song on the album with a little more synth in the mix, making it a little more of a lively track toward the end of the album, finally ending with “Tracks in the Snow,” a very sparse track compared to the rest of the songs, yet a very fitting end to the album. This is a very solid record from start to finish, with two alternative album cover designs as well on both the cassette and the vinyl. Skull Creator is available July 13, 2022 as a LP co. release on Atlanta’s Echodelick Records, Canada’s
Noiseagonymayhem and Australia’s Ramble Records.
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