A dark and brooding piece of gritty hard rock, John Skipp’s ‘The Antidote to Fear’ is a powerful and pulsating piece of hard rock that’s inherently loaded with verve and passion from back to front. You hear it in Skipp’s voice, the kind of rock star energy that sounds seasoned and driven. Rocking off the album to an impeccable start is the ominous and pulsating piece ‘Don’t Run When the Devil Comes’ which immediately highlights the style that Skipp likes to bring to life. Because if you’re vaguely familiar with horror fiction, John Skipp is an established name. The splatterpunk horror and fantasy author is a New York Times best seller who has also ventured into film direction, production, and screenwriting.
Ever a creative, Skipp’s latest endeavour and foray into songwriting came about during the pandemic. Picking up garage band and penning down a series of horror inspired pieces. There’s a mix of rock, jazz, soul, and psychedelic and a whole lot more within the record. It’s most striking element is the cinematics that Skipp is able to evoke through each track. Bringing together his literary and film skills, his music also becomes definitively visual and vibrant across each piece.
Each track feels like a setting, a backdrop of a scene or a moment that’s distinctly graphic and even gory at times. You feel like you’re shrouded in darkness, an ominous overtone continually foreboding across each piece. The constant drive of the opener versus the more soulful and bouncy style and swagger of the titular track, there’s a balance between the darkness and light. Skipp’s ever entertaining and ‘The Antidote to Fear’ is no exception.