Missbliss! are hailing from Newport, North Carolina and this is their debut EP in deluxe edition. There are six songs of horror vaudeville here on this little opus mixing punk rock, death rock, horror punk and shock rock into one intense yet fun as Hell drama and gory glory as the song says haha! I just love bands such as this one. I love the use of samples of murder news, guignol theatre intro and all the sampling in general between the songs. Vocals are more death rock sounding, but there are such fine melodies that make you crawl with goosebumps like awesome ‘Away From Me’. My personal hit is ‘Killing U Tonite’ being more straightforward horror punk song hit and reggae/horror punk like ‘TURNT’, but all the songs on this little opus are worth checking out if you are into horror/shock rock so go get this one. I wonder if the name of the band was inspired by one of my favorite girl wrestlers of all time, Alexa Bliss hehe.
Big Batch are hailing from France and this is their sophomore full length release consisting of eight songs. The music of Big Batch can be described as a mixture of punk rock and rawer dirtier side of rock n roll, yet retaining enough melody in vocal lines and anthemic guitar riffs to be counted as melodic punk rock. Vocals are great, rough and raspy, but singing at the same time and fit perfectly to the anthems like one of my personal favorites ‘Dance with Me’, having that beautiful melodic chorus and lyrics. Smart songwriting and lyrics are what makes this great punk rock record. If I must compare this band to some other bands, it would be to Bouncing Souls, Off With Their Heads and The Menzingers. I can also hear Motorhead in couple of song parts. Backing vocals are important in bands like this, they are immaculate here with harmonies, oooohs and aaaahs just made for singing along with these anthemic punk rock songs. One other song that I must also mention and whose chorus brought smile of satisfaction upon my lips is ‘Even Alive’, also the title song is one of the definite highlights of this album. This is great band, have a listen.
Death Crusade are coming from Gdansk, Poland and this is their new release consisting of eleven songs. As the cover might lead you to the conclusion, Death Crusade are playing mixture of hardcore crust punk and death metal and they do it really well. This means apocalyptic distorted bass, chainsaw cutting loud guitars sounding greasy and dirty, d-beat drumming with excursions to grindcore blast beats in some songs and barking, growling angry vocals. Mix all that and this record is sure to tear your head off with its intensity and force. Lyrics are in Polish but there are English explanations and they talk about being too passive and ignorant, alienation, against hatred, media lies and fear created by media, religious hysteria, stereotypes and depression and they are written good, not some Doom like haiku poetry, but good lyrics. There are also classic fast hardcore punk influences and I can hear some thrash metal in some quick guitar solos and I love the use of samples for intros of the songs. Polish is such beautiful language for extreme music. This is great and energetic record.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 