BZFOS are back! Shock Rock Rebels is the new, tenth album in the twenty blood soaked years these Vienna based fiends walk among us. This is the second album this band got away from their more psychobilly horror oriented history and evolved into melodic horror punk rock band, in fact doing what they want is what Dead Richy Gein and his gang do best. I can say this new collection of songs is somehow one level up continuation of their previous opus All These Fiendish Things. This new one contains melody, horror, sarcasm, black humor and gore, just like a good horror should do. I consider Richy one of the greatest horror movie fiend authorities in Europe and I love what he does and I can safely say this album and the previous one are the best this band has done yet. Although hits like Stop Writing Songs About Your Girlfriend, Damien, Belial, This Night On Halloween and other horror songs are my favorites, Off With Their Heads is absolute hit for me, being the fastest melodic anthem with slight political touch between the lines. There are rock songs, there are metal influences and hard rock, but common denominator behind it all is good old horror punk rock. Great album. Also, check out their videos because they are quite little nice horror movies.
Halloween is almost upon us and what better way to wait for it than with new The Whiskey Bats release. A while ago I did a review for their split record and here is the new one. What do we get here on this new opus? Well, we get five songs of wild and untamed energetic punk rock with a touch of horror punk thrown here and there for good measure. NC-17 is a great song with wicked guitar melody, almost evil hehe, great sing along part and being fast punk anthem in itself. Moonlight Girl is a bit different, having almost nervous guitar sound, being a bit more garage punk influenced, at least I heard it like that. Vocals are so great, screamed and shouted but fitting perfectly to wicked vibe of the record as a whole. Gallows and Vanta Black are for me the best songs on this record, but Missing Midian completes the release in rock n roll mayhem way with horror vibe all over. Great one by great band.
Long time no great horror punk on the pages of this zine. Dead United are hailing from Wurzburg in Germany and this is their new opus. As you probably guessed it, they play horror punk and there are 12 songs on this record. Germany has superb horror punk scene with The Other, The Crimson Ghosts, Mutant Reavers, Jamey Rottencorpse immediately come to mind and Dead United can proudly be named along with all other great bands of that scene. What I love about their music is that there is enough melody, yet also harshness and sharp guitar riffs to satisfy melodic and brutal fiend in me. Clever use of samples between the songs is something that I encourage and love and that is another plus for them. Guitar work is superb, delivering melodic hooks and punk aggression and vocal melodies and backing vocal harmonies are something that is so great that makes my fist pump in the air and sing along from the top of my blackened horror fiend heart. Songs like Green Glowing Skulls made me smile with grim satisfaction, Unusual is a cover of Tom Jones in horror punk version and it is so sweet and eerie that I listened to it couple of times in a row. Of course with music of this band we can not compare comparisons with some of the scene greats like Blitzkid for example, but this band is no mere clone of original scene purveyors, quite the contrary they deliver punches and make their own path of horror. My other personal favorites on this one are Scream! Oh Baby, Scream! and It Came From Above. But, if you love horror punk, this is mandatory, have a listen and discover your own favorites.
KRAYKULLA-WEBZINE 