Skeletal Family
Skeletal Family, the English goth/post-punk rockers that topped the U.K. indie chart during their original run in the early ’80s, will release their fifth studio album — the 10-track Light From the Dark — next week, and they’re previewing the record with the single “Beautiful Disaster.”
The album, the band’s first since 2009’s Songs of Love, Hope and Despair, will be released April 22 by Chapter 22 Records, and can be pre-ordered now from the label in a variety of CD and vinyl bundles.
Skeletal Family’s current lineup includes original members and songwriters Stan Greenwood (guitar), Roger “Trotwood” Nowell (bass) and Ian “Karl Heinz” Taylor (keyboard/sax), as well as drummer Adrian “Ozzy” Osadzenko and new singer Anneka Latta. The band recorded 19 songs at Paul Weller’s Black Barn Studios in Ripley, England, during the pandemic, and selected 10 to comprise the new album.
The band formed in 1982 with Anne-Marie Hurst on vocals, and released their first single, “Trees,” the following year and their debut album, Burning Oil, in 1984. Skeletal Family toured with The Sisters of Mercy that year and would go on to share the stage with such acts as Spear of Destiny, The Mission and more.
Hurst left the band following the release of second album Futile Combat in 1985 (she later formed Ghost Dance with Gary Marx, formerly of The Sisters) and Skeletal Family released a couple more singles, in 1986, with new singer Katrina Phillips before breaking up the following year.
The group has reunited in several iterations since 2002, including, for a period, with Hurst back on vocals, and released two new albums in the 2000s. After rotating through a few singers, Latta joined the group in 2021, and they recorded the new album Light From the Dark.
Below, check out the song “Beautiful Disaster” and the album’s full tracklist and cover art.
Skeletal Family, Light From the Dark
1. “Cry Baby”
2. “Edge of a Dream”
3. “Brewing Up a Storm”
4. “What Are You Waiting For?”
5. “Beautiful Disaster”
6. “New Horizon”
7. “All the Same To Me”
8. “Glorious”
9. “Enough Is Enough”
10. “My Own Redemption”
PREVIOUSLY ON SLICING UP EYEBALLS
- History of goth explored in new books by The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst, The Membranes’ John Robb
- Playlist: ‘Goth: Yesterday and Today’ — 30 songs over 2+ hours from Beggars Arkive
- Somebody stole Peter Murphy’s crown, and Bauhaus’ goth king wants it back
- Alien Sex Fiend’s 35-year goth history to be cataloged on new 3-disc ‘Fiendology’ set
- Goth box: 5-disc ‘Silhouettes & Statues: A Gothic Revolution 1978-1986’ out in June
