(review) The Karnsteins – ‘Three Kings of Terror’

Time for little horror punk to grace the pages of this zine again. The Karnsteins are hailing from Bratislava, Slovakia and this is their new EP containing five songs. I love the music of The Karnsteins. Why? Because they play horror punk the way I like it. With no philosophy, no industrial or death rock, just plain and simple old school horror punk just made for singing along and enjoying gory and bloodsoaked lyrics, in many ways they reminded me of Blitzkid, my favorite horror punk band. I love dual male/female vocals, especially in ‘Vincent Price’, another plus for this band since Vincent Price is my favorite horror actor, so to sing a song about him, hats off guys! The concept behind the whole EP is to praise three kings of terror from my favorite Hammer Horror pictures era, namely Vincent Price, Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing. I LOVE IT! Besides eighties golden era slasher, found footage, my favorite but really favorite horror is Hammer Horror/American International era movies with all those Edgar Allan Poe inspired movies, Lee’s Dracula and Cushing’s Van Helsing, also Cushing’s Frankenstein movies. I love the mixture of hardcore punk speed and horror punk melody. I recommend this band to all horror punk fans. The EP is ‘name your price’ but at least write a word or two to the guys in the band, I am sure they will appreciate it.

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(movie) Batman: The Doom That Came To Gotham(2023) – Batman i Lovecraft? MOŽE!

Svi već znaju da sam veliki fan Marvelovih filmova, serija i animiranih, kao i DC-evih koji se smatraju vječitom konkurencijom hehe. E, pa kada je ovaj bio najavljen nisam mogao vjerovati. Dugometražni animirani Batman koji u priči ima Lovecraftovu mitologiju? E pa gdje si tako dugo? Mike Mignola, koji je između ostalog napisao i Hellboya, imao je prste u ovoj mračnoj priči. Iako smo već u zadnje vrijeme navikli na svakakve Batman universe priče, od Jack The Rippera, preko Killing Joke, do danas, ali ova je zakon. Počne kao At the mountains of madness of Lovecrafta kada Bruce Wayneov brod tridesetih godina dvadesetog stoljeća krene tražiti nestalu ekspediciju Oswalda Cobblepota, Pingvina za one koji ne znaju, na Južni pol. Cobbletpot je nestao, nalaze većinu posade mrtvu i u pećini kozmički užas koji želi osvojiti cijeli svijet. Bruce skuži da je vrijeme da se nakon deset godina vrati u Gotham i ponovo odjene Batmanov kostim, jer je prijetnja puno veća nego se čini i seže unatrag stoljećima, a umiješana je i Wayne obitelj. Kao što sam nedavno pisao u recenziji Walking Dead stripa, sviđa mi se ta brutalnost u stripovima odnosno grafičkim novelama. Ovo nije Batman za djecu, ovo je mračna saga o Yog Sothothu, Chthulhu i ostalim Old Onesima, Batmanu, ljudima koji umiru oko njega, a koji su mu dragi, žrtvi i ultimativnoj žrtvi za čovječanstvo.U filmu se pojavljuje Oliver Queen poznati kao Green Arrow, Harvey Dent, Poison Ivy, a kao glavni negativac i dobro nam znani Ra’s al Ghul, te njegova kći Talia. Scenaristi se ne libe ubiti neke dobro nam poznate likove, kao ni ultimativni svršetak koji je bio pomalo šokantan čak i meni koji poznajem Batman univerzum i timelineove prilično dobro. Odličan, za sve koji vole Batmana i Lovecrafta.

8,5/10

(review) Primetime Failure – ‘Oxygen’

Primetime Failure from Germany are in no way strangers to the pages of this webzine, since we reviewed their last release here. This fantastic melodic punk band released their new e.p. with 5 songs delivering ultra melodic skate punk with pop punk sensibility and one of the best vocal melodies and backing vocal harmonies that I have listened in last couple of years, well since their last release. Lyrics are personal and I think many of us can relate to. My personal favorites are ‘I like what you’ve done with the place’ having such anthemic vibe and also ‘Blueprint’ which I listened to over and over again. Excellent release by this excellent band.

Bandcamp