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Bill Fisher Premieres “The Dark Triad” From Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad

Posted in audiObelisk on August 10th, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Bill Fisher Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad

[Click play above to stream ‘The Dark Triad’ from Bill Fisher’s Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad. Album is out Aug. 21 on Septaphonic Records.]

Church of the Cosmic Skull founder and frontman Bill Fisher is set to release his first solo album, Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad, on Aug. 21. It is a complex and multifaceted release for one that boasts a relatively unassuming 31-minute runtime, and its eight songs quickly distinguish themselves from Church of the Cosmic Skull with the crunch of the opening riff to “All Through the Night” at the outset. In tone and progressive twist, it stands apart from Fisher‘s main outfit, and as his LP liner notes explain, there are some snippets that go back to his time in Mammothwing (whose lone full-length came out in 2015) and before that. In terms of philosophy, the album centers around its two titular concepts.

The former being more straightforward, the latter is the ‘dark triad,’ which is comprised of three personality traits Fisher, as he notes, is bringing to light in hopes that we — humans — might see them in ourselves and swear them off. They are psychopathy, Machiavellianism and narcissism, and Fisher — via an in-album graphic — presents a Venn diagram wherein these ideas intersect along with factors like money, power, status, the past, present and future. Mass hypnosis itself is represented by an all-seeing eye, and perhaps missing is a discussion of capitalism as a driving force behind said psychopathy and status-craving greed, but it’s not hard to look around in 2020 and understand where his point of view is coming from. In the UK and in many other countries, including my own, a rise of nationalist populism and open disdain for intellectualism, science and the like, has acted not so much as a wrench halting the gears of progress but one systemically undoing the bolts holding those gears together. Perhaps, at the least, it is fair to say Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad is an album that wants context, lines like “And the empty voices fill the brain/To guide the hands in such a way” from the penultimate “Message in the Sky” not at all pretending to occur in a vacuum.

At the same time Fisher has put these ideas to work across Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad, he’s also made an utterly accessible collection of songs. It’s not the spirited, harmony-laced pop of his main outfit, or the heavier post-rock of Dystopian Future Movies — which is led by Church of the Cosmic Skull‘s Caroline Cawley and in which Fisher features; the drums were reportedly recorded while making that band’s latest album — but the material he presents is deeply melodic and that acts to ground some of the proggier twists, as can be heard in “Psychopathy” at the outset of side B, or again, in the mathy stops and turns of “All Through the Night.” Affecting a full-group style while playing all the instruments himself, Fisher crafts an impression that stands beyond decreed genre boundaries, toying with the balance between heavy rock, progressive metal, progressive rock and touches of psychedelia.

BILL FISHER CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL

“Mirror of Tomorrow,” which follows the opener, complements its crunch and impact with melody of layered vocals as well as fuzzy lead guitar, rolling through a crisp 2:47 before “Celador” — the title of course being derived from the sounds said to be the most pleasing to the human ear — dives into the realm of metaphor and storytelling, a tense chug like a ticking clock behind an initial verse pushing into an eventual unveiling of the hook that finally explodes in the final minute of the song, Fisher having expertly swapped one structure for another ahead of the crashing roll that begins the side-A-ending semi-title-track “The Dark Triad.” The two together, “Celador” and “The Dark Triad,” are the longest songs on Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad at 4:44 and 4:35, respectively, but neither could rightly be accused of any more indulgence than the rest of what surrounds, Fisher discussing ideas on his own terms, certainly, but keeping his audience engaged in that conversation through craft and touches like the harmonized soloing and vocals, let alone the underlying bassline, of “The Dark Triad” as it moves into its gracefully flowing second half, something of an aural wash, but one effectively grounded by the drums as it enters its fadeout.

“Psychopathy” picks up on side B and boasts enough Rush and King Crimson-style chase to satisfy any quota Fisher might have imagined, and accordingly, it’s only fair that its bounce and quick-cut style should be complemented by the ensuing “Days of Old,” a quiet, folky beginning manifesting the sentimentality of the title. It is as close as Fisher comes to Church of the Cosmic Skull as more layers of vocals enter, but the song stays softer, and even the guitar solo that arrives later on feels subdued and contemplative as it fills out overtop of the central figure. These outward-directed reaches aren’t placed by accident, as Fisher is well acquainted with a classic LP structure, and it should accordingly be little surprise that the subsequent closing duo, “Message from the Sky” and “Mass Hypnosis,” bring the proceedings back to their hooky center, much as an individual song might branch outward with a bridge before turning back to end on its chorus. “Mass Hypnosis” of course serves double-duty as the finisher and a complement to “The Dark Triad,” and its central question, “How many more/How many more to make it?” echoes the “I wanna know” repetitions of the earlier track.

These touches make Mass Hypnosis and the Dark Triad no less sonically fluid than it is thematically so. The production is a surprisingly organic presence in the recording for something so progressive in its makeup, but that only feeds the atmosphere of the entire piece as a solo work, lending an air of intimacy to what might otherwise come across as cold or lacking personality. Despite the variety of ideas being presented in the material, though, what remains at the core is Fisher‘s own take on songwriting, and it is the songs as much as the overarching statement of the LP as a whole that make an impression. Fisher has set himself up for a new creative exploration alongside that of Church of the Cosmic Skull. The possibilities for how he might bring that to bear are another exciting factor emerging from his work here.

Bill Fisher website

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Church of the Cosmic Skull website

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Bill Fisher of Church of the Cosmic Skull Announces Solo Album out Aug. 21

Posted in Whathaveyou on July 31st, 2020 by JJ Koczan

Today, Church of the Cosmic Skull founder Bill Fisher announces the release of his first solo album under his own name. Set to arrive on Aug. 21, the title isn’t being revealed yet, though presumably that will come with subsequent announcements of things like the tracklisting, preorders and so on. In the interim, Fisher is offering a link where one can sign up for updates and details on all of the above. He calls it the “Billuminati,” which is adorable and you know it.

Though a solo record in name, it is very much a rock album in the main, and those curious as to just how much of Church of the Cosmic Skull bears the hallmark of Fisher‘s songwriting — he’s also a former member of Mammothwing — will find the answer to be plenty, but while there are melodies a-plenty, the upcoming collection is a marked turn from, say, Church of the Cosmic Skull‘s most recent offering, late-2019’s Everybody’s Going to Die (review here). Let’s hope the solo album is less prescient.

Here’s his announcement:

billfisher.net/joinBILL FISHER CHURCH OF THE COSMIC SKULL

Church of the Cosmic Skull Founder Bill Fisher to Release Solo Album

Album Release Date: Friday 21st August 2020

As an aside to the musical works realised by Church of the Cosmic Skull, I have decided to release some other material under my own name via Septaphonic Records and a new website: billfisher.net

Rest assured that the Church has never been stronger, and will continue to spread the light of the Cosmic Rainbow with full and unstoppable force, with new songs and other announcements soon to follow.

The works to be sent forth from this new platform will be myriad and multiform, varied in genre but of high standard and rich with heart.

The first will take the form of a full studio album, an exploration into heavier realms but still very much melody driven; prog with elements of proto-metal and stoner rock.

Super-deluxe limited edition vinyl, CD, and other merch will on preorder soon via Septaphonic Records and billfisher.net

Listeners can get an exclusive pre-listen of the whole album before public release via a sequence of emails and secret web pages about the concepts behind the album and how we can stop sociopathy taking over the universe.

To get access to this and avoid missing out on the other mind-blowing surprises to come, you are invited to join the suitably-titled ‘Billuminati’ here: billfisher.net/join

Yours in peace and harmony,

BF

billfisher.net
churchofthecosmicskull.com
cosmicskull.org
facebook.com/churchofthecosmicskull
churchofthecosmicskull.bandcamp.com
instagram.com/churchofthecosmicskull

Church of the Cosmic Skull, Everybody’s Going to Die (2019)

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