Love Equals Death are punk band from California and they are not so known to people in these parts, so I am glad that I discovered them through this record. They are not strangers to this zine because I interviewed them a while back. Now they are back with a collection of their previously released e.p. material and this album is a perfect way for you to get to know with this awesome band. Love Equals Death play a brand of melodic punk rock but with darkened vibe and sounding a lot more harsh in some song parts then your typical Cali punk rock band. There are also some street punk influences which fit perfectly with some gang sing along parts. But, the main fact is that this is well written and good punk rock to peel your ears and hearts while listening. Emotions, aggression, atmosphere, melody and fist pumping punk, that is all you need with this record and this band. Hopefully they will tour Europe in 2022 and I will get to see this band play live because I think that will be a fantastic show.
It is time for horrorpunk to grace the pages of this zine again. It has been four years since Calabrese, one of my favorite horrorpunk bands released last album called Lust For Sacrilege. That album marked a bit darker and grittier, heavier side of things for the three brothers of whom this band consists.
The new record contains 11 songs. The music is horrorpunk in basic, but you won˙t find here no third rate Fits rehash, but something original, a unique sound that Calabrese developed through the years of existence. Old songwriting craftship is still here, with songs like He Who Flees The Light or Demonspitter sounding old school Calabrese with a bit of noise and nervousness thrown in the song structures. The other thing that I love about them how they developed dark and somehow almost metal and gothic influences in the slower songs like King Prowler for example making the record interesting and diverse. The interesting and original thing is also that they recorded videos for all the songs from this record, so check em out on YouTube in the order as the record songs go. Maybe some songs are not anthemic as the old ones like Pleasures Of Evil being for me one of the best on the album combining harsh darkness with melodic chorus. Maleficis Visibilis serves as a kind of intro for malicious things to come hehe with synth melodic being done reminding me of all the favorite 80-ies horror flicks. Bobby and Jimmy interplay excellently with their vocal lines creating a interwoven net of haunted melodies. The last third of the album climaxes in fantastic songs like All The Devils In Hell and superb End Of Time At The Gates Of Hell. This is by far the most complex and most diverse Calabrese record and it is fantastic!
AFI have just released new e.p. with the songs on that they wrote during the last tour and I listened and reviewed the new record for our zine.
I remember this band in the 90-ies and their early days when they still played melodic skatepunk with hardcore influences and in the meantime when I recollect on their early times, they evolved into world known stadium filling melodic dark punk band with pop influences.
This new record contains 5 songs of darkened seductive melodic punk sound. This band you gotta love or you don˙t like them at all. I first wasn`t really a fan of their music, but in time I grew to love their stuff and understand what are they doing and where are they going with the band. I was intrigued with the title track of this record, which has more to do with Depeche Mode and similar darkened pop than with punkrock, having beautiful melodies in the verse/chorus and sung with awesome Havok˙s voice. Trash Bat is similar with the material off the last two studio full length albums and this is for me the best track on this record besides the title track. Breaking Angels and Back Into The Sun were somehow similar for me and I didn˙t notice them passing in my ear. Get Dark is a decent track with uptempo beat and apocalyptic little lovely melody. This e.p. is okay, but it is just that, okay, nothing more. Let us wait for another full length.