Hailing from Birmingham, Alabama, I think Parlangua is a one man project/band. According to their page, it started as stoner rock project but evolved towards more gruesome and macabre side of things, meaning horror! This one contains ten songs and it sounds dirty, rawer and swampy, you can almost feel the moist and swamp coming off the guitar work and thundering greasy rhythm section. Vocals are more shouted and barking than singing but fit with music like this band/project is playing. There is occasional melody rearing its ugly head here and there through all the ugliness of the punk rock. If I must describe the music of Parangua, it would be a mixture of raw horror punk, death rock with some goth influences and garage punk, that would be my description of the combination Parangua plays. As I said, lyrically they delve more into horror side of things with songs like ‘Predator’, ‘Are You Afraid Of The Dark?’, ‘Dead Ringer’ and ‘Necromantic’ standing out. I love my horror punk more melodic and more catchy, but this one is alright for being a soundtrack for some Rob Zombie-like horror movie.
Batboner from Norway were already featured on the pages of this webzine when I reviewed their last release. Now, they are back with their brand new EP containing four songs and this is the final record with their drummer Zonetripper who left the band and it is a sort of hommage to him. On this new one Batboner continue where they left off with the previous one, delivering eerie gothic punk mixed with raw punk rock and death rock, also some horror punk influences in the song structures. I love how this band on both releases manages to create kind of eerie melodies, meaning, yes, they are melodic but somehow spooky and songs like ‘Flaccid’ could be hits in any goth club because it is a very straightforward and dancable song. ‘litch’ is a song in which those beautiful haunted vocal lines come to forefront and deliver mighty punch in the face and blackened heart. As I can hear this new EP leans more on punk side of things and music is still death rock but with more of a punk touch. ‘Light In The Void’ is a personal favorite of mine with that nice bass melody, simple and hitting through to you. Vocals are again at the forefront but chorus is at the same time more aggressive yet melancholic. ‘Skretch’ is a final song on this EP and leaves me wanting more and saying long live the horror!
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.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 