Zombina And; The Skeletones: In Sinistereo
Ltd LP | CD | DL
Rel Date: 31st October 2025
4.0 out of 5.0 stars
31st October – It’s All Hallows Eve, the start of Allhallowtide, a religious period dedicated to remembering the dead, including lost saints and martyrs… but more importantly, its release day for In Sinistereo – a collection of tracks from Liverpool’s horror fiends, Zombina And The Skeletones.
The sixteen ghoul-laden tracks were initially released as four download-only EPs between Halloween 2015 and Valentine’s Day 2017, after which Zombina led her Skeletones into the silent portal of the undead, only for the casket to be broken open with the release of the rather magnificent The Call Of Zombina (LTW review) album back in 2024.
Now that the The Skeletones are moving again their attention has turned to these EP’s which were released in an incomplete form, backing vocals, and screeching saxophones were missing… until now and in the (correct) belief that they deserved a full physical release we are presented with In Sinistereo.
(All I Wanna Do Is) Decompose (With You) from 2015 is the first to rise from the tomb, a revved engine, and clattering drums beckon this technicolour garage blast complete with a stomping rhythm and Zombina’s vocal refrain, Phantom With The X-Ray Mind again from 2015 has a more stuttering feel held together by a solid drum and bass combo, before borrowing heavily from Thriller, whilst there are some wonderful swirling keyboards in the mix; similarly Witch Mountain which attacks the classic 60’s girl group sound but laces it with appropriate horror and schlock whipping this up into a blood dripping watsui around Death Valley High, ahead of the explosive I Hate Humans which sees the band really hit the groove, a joyous Farfisa inspired keyboard nags in the darkness, a dangerously infectious chorus and some soaring backing vocals before wrapping it all up some 120 seconds later!
What is abundantly evident is the bands knack of constructing a damn fine pop song, yes the lyrics are fun, possibly even frothy, but we are currently living in some very dark times and a bit of fun, some Hammer horror-laced glee is very welcome; take Whatever You Do, Don’t Fall In Love, a pulsing dreamy pop gem with some darker overtones again from that core rhythm section, whilst Haunted House Of Love from the same 2017 EP rides the same pop vibe and with the breakdowns and backing vocals actually had me thinking of the likes of Cuckooland and the early Shelly’s Children as reference points.
Kill!!! Takes the band in another direction as it veers into the electro-clash world with lyrical nods to the mighty Golden Boy’s Rippin Kittin; Zombina’s dropped vocal has a chilling warmth as she declares her desire to “Kill for you… just try and stop me”. Across the entire album it is clear that the band are not afraid to stretch musical horizons, take The Stakeout, a darkly sinuous oddity, deep ominous currents infect this slice of macabrely structured pop – the only other band operating out there would possibly be fellow scouse dwellers Space, this is further evidenced on Stalkin’ which somehow seamlessly mashes a kaleidoscope of pop genres into a singular garage stomp.
You Swallow Spiders In Your Sleep returns us to a more familiar Skeletones realm, a bristling horror pop romp complete with Zombina’s piercing vocal and swooning choruses, and then we get the real curveball, the mysterious Satan Is Alive, a modern electronic ballad that embraces darkness and light in captivating glee.
The world has gone to shit, but we have In Sinistereo – a playful adventure to lift the mood. This collection sees Zombina & The Skeletones effortlessly genre hopping from garage riffs to electro and on into twisted pop perfection, it’s a combination that should see them step from the B-movie shadows and into the light.
Track List:
01 (All I Wanna Do Is) Decompose (With You)
02 Phantom With The X-Ray Mind
03 Witch Mountain
04 I Hate Humans
05 Whatever You Do, Don’t Fall In Love
06 Haunted House Of Love
07 Kill!!!
08 Ramon
09 The Wild
10 The Crawling Love
11 The Stakeout
12 Stalkin’
13 Beware: Cosmic Plague
14 The Changeling
15 You Swallow Spiders In Your Sleep
16 Satan Is Alive In You
Zombina And The Skeletones online:
Home | Bandcamp | Facebook
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Words by Phil Newall. Find his author archive here.
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