The Negans are from Boston and this is their new record. This one contains 12 songs and we all know who Negan is, we all love him or hate him for different reasons hehe. Well, I love this band. The music can be described as a mixture of harsh punk rock, horrorpunk and even some street punk influences thrown in, yet with catchy and singalong horrorpunk choruses like awesome Rick´s a Prick. The vocals are angry, yet melodic and vocal lines are written so great and sweet like in Lizzie´s Lament for example, one of my favorite songs on this record. There are some more classic street rock songs like Badass, so this is not your classic horrorpunk style for all you fiendettes and fiends, boys and ghouls who love your horrorpunk in Misfits/Blitzkid style of things, but that is the whole beauty of the scene, that diversity of the styles evolving into our beloved horror genre. Two more songs that are for me highlights on this album are Infected Fiesta and Negan´s Way, wicked little anthems of zombie apocalypse. The rest you have to discover for yourselves. How? The Negans released their record on Bandcamp, so go grab it, if you love it, write couple of words to the guys I am sure they will appreciate it.
The Writhers are hailing from San Diego, California and this is their brand new e.p. that came out today. This e.p. contains five songs plus instrumental intro called Devilmask Approaches. When the first song Rot Rot Rot opened up I was blown away. It was like Dead Kennedys were playing horrorpunk meaning old school Cali punk with horror lyrics about alien invasion in What Is That? or maybe maniac stalkers in Pulp are to about to win you over for sure. The guitar work reminds of The Cramps a bit, and vocally the singer has similar tone and voice as Jello Biafra which makes this band interesting because I have never listened to this kind of horrorpunk band. This is one more proof how horrorpunk scene is diverse and beautiful, different in its diversity and influences. My personal favorite on this record is Cold Day, maybe because it is the most epic and melodic song of them all. Devilmaks Defeated? is the closing song, being a bit weird with keyboard backgrounds, spoken word and eerie atmosphere, but reminded me a lot of small town slasher horror movies back in the eighties, I don´t know why, maybe because overall vibe of the song. This is a good and interesting e.p.
Monsters Of Your Mind are from Surrey, UK and they are releasing their debut e.p. on Halloween. This e.p contains 5 songs and they are all different as horror punk scene is, varied and with diverse influences in the song structures. Dolly is for me one of the most interesting songs on the record, being almost mixture of punk rock but done in a synth pop way and very eerie song indeed topped with superb vocals. Giant Slugs From Outa Space continues in a similar direction, but it is more of a weird song, vocals sounding almost rapping in some parts of the song mixed with post punk and great allegoric lyrics with nice chorus. Killing Machine is old school punk song, of almost street punk oi sound. My other personal favorite besides Dolly is Vaporized, horror punk songs just made for going nuts in the club in front of the stage. Zombie Voodoo is a song which is very unusual, being a capella for starters then evolving into reggae post punk with horror lyrics. Interesting e.p. I can´t wait for the full length to arrive one day.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 