Bill Fisher – The Dark Triad (Septaphonic Records)
Bill Fisher, of Church of the Cosmic Skull, Mammothwing and Dystopian Future Movies, is set to release his debut solo album of spirituality-infused doom rock.
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Artist: Bill Fisher
Track: The Dark Triad
Label: self-release
Released: 10 August 2020
Find it: Bandcamp
We can probably all agree that 2020 has been a challenging year. As well as the obvious and immediate threat of a global pandemic, climate is becoming more extreme, populism is rising in the west, and here in the UK there is a daily dose of ineptitude peppered with pure evil from those nominally in charge of the show as the masses turn against science, are manipulated by media new and old, and asked to kick downwards at those who have less rather than up at the real capitalist driven corruption. Even those of us most committed to our light side will have felt a shadow across us at some time.
Amid this external storm is the ongoing battles with self. The classic light versus dark side of each of us. Fixed against growth. Limit against potential. Good against bad. The beat of the heart of darkness so many of us, sleeping, let ourselves dance to one way or another becoming individualistic and committing deadly sins aplenty. Narcissism, Machiavellianism, psychopathy: the Dark Triad.
The scene is set for the debut solo album from Bill Fisher (Church of the Cosmic Skull, Mammothwing, Dystopian Future Movies), Mass Hypnosis and The Dark Triad. We’ll wax lyrical about the whole of this record in another piece – and it really is worth raving about – but for now we’re whetting the appetite with single The Dark Triad.
Driven by melody and bursting with heart, there’s a heavy feel to the track not just in sound but in subject which explores those three traits. As the titles may suggest they are a recurring theme and through the artwork we see them intersect with past, present and future, as well as the external factors of money, power and status. Fisher himself says he hopes more people will wake to these traits in themselves, while describing the sound of his solo work as “an exploration into heavier realms but still very much melody driven; prog with elements of proto-metal and stoner rock.”
That describes the sound perfectly here – there is plenty of echoes of what’s gone before from the ’90s slacker of Alice in Chains to the grindcore of Carcass, with this single faring on the lighter side. As well as the lyrical messaging there is intricate and beautiful melody woven through, making for an intelligent album which makes you think as much as it makes you want to let yourself float and be buffeted by the riffs and rhythms. This is a song – and an album – to sink into, and have run through you. Full force melody and heavy grinds which envelop you and offer escape from the dystopia by having you face right into it. Powerful stuff in every sense.
Mass Hypnosis and The Dark Triad is released on 21 August 2020. Visit billfisher.net to order, or to join the ‘Billuminati’ for latest news.
Find Bill Fisher: Website | Facebook | Bandcamp
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Sarah Lay
A long-standing music journalist she's also co-founder of independent record label Reckless Yes, an author of novels, and when not messing around with words and music, a digital strategist.
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