Cavaverman – Women, Monsters & Cazzottis

After the acclaim lured by their album Tales From Cavafistool around Europe, Italian horror punks Cavaverman release their new EP, Women, Monsters & Cazzottis. Offering three tracks as a name your own price download, their latest encounter is equally as irresistible with the band stretching their sound to embrace an even richer array of flavours in its rock ‘n’ roll stomp. It builds on the last album with relish and enterprise with suggestive hints of where the band is going next.

Hailing from Monza, the trio of guitarist/vocalist Sal Champion, bassist Apocalypse Giò, and drummer Doktor Hell draw on the inspiration of bands such as The Ramones, Misfits, Alkaline Trio, and Entombed for their own enjoyably raw yet adventurous sound. A trio of albums in Dead Brains For Brain Dead, James Dead, and the aforementioned Tales From Cavafistool have more than marked Cavaverman out from the crowd and the Undead Artists released Women, Monsters & Cazzottis is no different.

It opens with Deadly Touch, a track featuring the potent vocals of Irene from Milan punks Viboras. The song itself is the punks inside Cavaverman coming to the fore; its horror punk ’n’ roll mixing with punk metal tendencies to unleash something akin to UK’s Trioxin Cherry meeting US bands Mongrel and Calabrese. From its first breath, the track stomps with attitude and an infectious lilt, the vocal union of Sal and Irene ear grabbing with the latter just as potent when tempting alone. Instinctive grooves and nagging hooks only add to the thick lure of the antagonism soaked song before Jamie Sommers steps forward.

The second song has a calmer persona, its psychobilly nurtured stroll and hearty croon showing a new maturity in the Cavaverman songwriting. Of course there is a snarl in the belly but one restrained as guitars weave their sultry serenade within a coarser tide of riffs and swinging rhythms. As the first, it is a richly magnetic affair captivating ears and imagination with swift ease before King of Cazzottis concludes the EP with its hard rock meets horror punk stomp. There is a healthy spice of pop punk to the chorus of the song too, another flavour in its bold mix needing little time to have body and vocal involvement from the listener on board.

Women, Monsters & Cazzottis is a band doing what they do best, unleashing instinctive rock ‘n’ roll whilst involving sound and creativity in new textures and explorations. There are surprises and plenty of familiar essences colluding in a slice of Cavaverman goodness which gets better and more tempting with every listen.

Women, Monsters & Cazzottis is out now through Undead Artists as a name your price download @ https://undeadartists.bandcamp.com/album/women-monsters-cazzottis  or https://cavaverman.bandcamp.com/album/women-monsters-and-cazzottis

https://www.facebook.com/Cavaverman/

Pete RingMaster 09/05/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Deadite – The Damned

After a fine year for the label, Hamburg based Undead Artists have got its successor off in fine style with the release of The Damned by Belgian horror punks Deadite. The album is a multi-flavoured roar blending strains of psychobilly, rock ‘n’ roll, and other ravenous textures into horror fuelled punk rock. It makes for a tantalising and captivating proposal becoming more compelling with every listen.

Hailing from Hamme, the quartet of Scarecrow, Wolfben, EvilOnly, and Von Nekromance have persistently stirred attention and eager support at home and further afield but for a great many The Damned will be an introduction; one sure to keep their ‘secrecy’ no longer.

From the cinematic Intro, the release roars into view with The Shadows and a surge of classic rock ‘n’ roll chords. It is the lead into a stomping charge of senses whipping rhythms and toxic grooves as vocals melodically growl. Psychobilly and horror punk collude as the track throws its lustful energy and sounds around, making for a potent start to the album though soon eclipsed by the outstanding Age Of Violence. With belligerence oozing from every note and vocal breath, the track’s nagging riffs and attitude loaded bassline alone seizes the passions, raw vocal antagonism and rhythmic trespasses reinforcing its punk rock lure as spicy grooves ignite.

The album’s title track steps forward next, its brooding climate and Tiger Army like air quickly seducing ears and imagination. Vocals too have a calmer presence and resonance which just adds to the haunting charm and atmosphere of the encounter resulting in the release stepping up another notch in impressiveness again.

Cored by a tangy hook, Collector grabs the appetite straight away next, its Rezurex/Plan 9 like stroll simultaneously menacing and infectious and the swinging relentless beats a greed inducing pressure while the following Show Me Some Love has a touch of Batmobile meets Misfits to it. The song is an equally predacious and virulent persuasion to the former with rhythms once more an irresistible infestation of body and instincts.

Pussywhipped shares its fifties breeding with relish after them; country seeds open within the excellent old school stomp before Empty Heart romances the senses with its sultry melodies and vocal croon. Rhythms and riffs insert the tenacious energy which instinctively flows from the band with Calabrese spiced enterprise playing around their eagerness throughout. The pair alone shows the variety in the Deadite sound, a diversity not always making big steps but certainly providing a broad and flavoursome adventure to get hooked on.

That bait continues through the feistier muscular throes of Damnation and the predatory prowl of The Taker, another track sparking references to the likes of Calabrese and Tiger Army within its own bold character. The Mark Of Cain after them though is proud to wear its inspirations boldly, the song a mix of Misfits and Samhain and also easy to breed greed for.

Roadkill is a grouchy assault of punk and hard rock whipping up rich satisfaction next, its success matched by the similarly punk driven Same Shit Different Day offering a minute and half of intrusively catchy rock ‘n’ roll before Cursed brings the whole pleasurable time to a close with its smouldering psychobilly serenade.

It is a great end to an impressive and richly enjoyable release; not quite a classic but not far off from a band with the potential for such a genre igniting proposal in their growing imagination.

The Damned is out now through Undead Artists @ https://undeadartists.bandcamp.com/album/the-damned

https://www.facebook.com/pg/deadite138   http://www.deadite.be/

Pete RingMaster 02/03/2017

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Cavaverman – Tales From Cavafistool

It was Johnny Rose, the band behind Birmingham rock ‘n’ rollers Thirteen Shots and the independent label Undead Artists, that pushed our gaze the way of Italian horror punks Cavaverman, and boy are we grateful that he did. The trio released their new album Tales From Cavafistool this past Halloween, a thirteen track proposal that rocks with the bloodlust horror punk should always do but equally with an imagination unafraid to involve other bold flavours and twists of invention. The result is a fascinating and seriously rousing stomp fuelled with a potential that says even bigger and bolder adventures are ahead, so time the world woke up to the sonic zombie hunters.

Consisting of guitarist/vocalist Sal Champion, bassist Apocalypse Giò, and drummer Doktor Hell, it is fair to say that Cavaverman wear many of their inspirations on their sleeve the likes of The Ramones, Misfits, Alkaline Trio, and Entombed included, weaving them into their own contagious and visceral romances of sound and horror. As previous releases like Dead Brains For Brain Dead and James Dead showed, at times there is no escaping the familiarity to those influences but more often than not they merely spice fresh pools of bloodied Cavaverman imagination.

Tales From Cavafistool quickly stirs the blood and passions with opener Vampiro; a pull back on a shotgun the spark to a charge of spicy riffs and thumping beats driven by the potent tones of Champion. With a snatch of psychobilly to its character and straight forward rock ‘n’ roll in its instincts, the song rumbles and swaggers with expectations feeding horror punk tenacity and zeal, but with a wealth of enterprise it only thickly excites before Dead In Berlin offers its own breed of lusty punk ‘n’ roll. As in the opener and many more, Misfits is an obvious spicing but one, as suggested earlier, honed into the ways of Cavaverman with fresh and imaginative resourcefulness. The rhythms of Giò and Hell stalk and grumble magnetically throughout its scavenging whilst Champion shows himself as alluring with fingers on strings as voice on lyrics.

     The more restrained Yellow King shows a fuzzier melodic string to the band’s creative bow whilst still creating a virulent offering hard for body and voice to resist whilst the mighty Green Goblin is a two and a half minute addiction that you will be crooning long after leaving its and the album’s side. Familiarity is once more a potent hue but entangled in a pungent pop punk weave, the track is like all your best friends partying in the ears.

Such its contagion and slavery upon the passions, the following Don’t Cross The Streams has a harder task to shine alongside but its efforts are strong and enjoyable, especially with its excellent sinister entrance on intimidatingly anthemic rhythms. Into its stride, the song loses some of its potency in energy and impact but it still has feet romping and pleasure aflame by the time it makes way for Inside You and straight after Hero. The first of the pair also embraces the punk pop side of the band, breaking into an easy going and vibrant rocker before its successor grows from a scuzz kissed croon under atmospheric cold into an impassioned serenade with rising crescendos. The track might be another not quite matching some of those around it, but what it lacks in a persuasive spark it more than makes up with in bold and fiery blends of varied rock styles to show the strength of the band’s songwriting and imagination.

Lora Ashley is a delicious straight forward incitement of hooks and united vocals, an inevitable horror punk sing-a-long raising the spirits and greed ready for the drama laded rock ‘n’ roll of Dead Boys Of Summer. Resistance is futile here too as the track prowls ears with its sturdy rhythms and grinning hooks, vocals the final lure in a lustful anthem. Irresistibility continues in the old school punk joins fifties spawned rock ‘n’ roll of Don’t Worry About Me next, the song something you could imagine a collusion between The Damned, Flogging Molly, and Calabrese producing whilst the irresistible Teenwolf is less than two minutes of boisterous incitement with anthemic effect on body and emotions.

     Tales From Cavafistool is finished off by fiery rocker Just Another Day where blues spicing adds to rich flames of melodic and heavy rock aligning to a rockabilly swing, and finally the short sepia toned instrumental epilogue of Dawn Of The Cavaverman. The final piece is like the closing of the theatre curtain at the close of a creative triumph, and that is just what Tales From Cavafistool is, a triumph from a band previously in the shadows but now bounding forward with a real punch. As uniqueness and imagination continues to grow within the craft of Cavaverman, there is no reason to dismiss the thought that something special for horror punk is brewing in Italy.

Tales From Cavafistool Cavaverman is out now via Undead Artists and @ https://cavaverman.bandcamp.com/album/tales-from-cavafistool

https://www.facebook.com/Cavaverman

Pete RingMaster 04/11/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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The Obnoxious UK – Horror Movie Matinee

With a title like Horror Movie Matinee, you cannot help expecting a viscerally imposing and furiously bloody proposition unafraid to go where angels fear to tread, and it is fair to say that the new album from UK punkers The Obnoxious UK does not disappoint. Bulging to the point of bursting with fifteen tracks which resourcefully draw on horror punk and psychobilly flavours as well as a thick dose of punk rock from over its most potent ages, band and release makes for one compelling and thoroughly enjoyable punk ‘n’ roll roar.

The Midlands based band began in 2001, and whilst going through a few line-up changes over the years has persistently grown and lured in devoted local attention and support which over recent times has solidly spread, Horror Movie Matinee poised to be the band’s biggest and most potent instigator yet. The release of the video for album track God For A Day really whetted the appetite for the forthcoming full-length, though it turns out it is only one particular spice in the hellacious riot.

Anthemic rhythmic bait is food and drink to these ears and that is exactly how album opener Drinking With The Dead makes its first wave of persuasion. The drums of Fez roll in and along with attitude and catchy tempting, swiftly joined by the raw and similarly magnetic riffs of guitarists Bri and Kimbo. The latter is close behind with his vocals too, potently adding to the infectious incitement of the horror punk escapade. It is not a song with a startling statement of originality yet with its punk tenacity and carnivorous shadows, easily provides a soundtrack for any salacious moonlit and cemetery based jiggery-pokery.

The tremendous start is backed by Walking Dead, another horror punk spawned proposal equipped with spicy hooks and melodic fire, though the blood lust seems restrained, as indeed the song, in presence and effect in comparison to the first and the outstanding Drag Me To Hell which follows. Psychobilly is given a poke this time but equally the track has an old school rock ‘n’ roll blaze to its addictive stomp. The string pulls of bassist Jacko resonate across the song whilst the duller but no less gripping beats only help infuse a great vintage tone to the song. With fiery enterprise from the guitars employed too, the track sets down a lofty plateau for the album which is matched and worried time and time again.

     Loaded Roadkill is one straight away unleashing a potent challenge. Fusing a hard rock and rockabilly tenacity into its punk attitude, the song bounces over and pounds the senses with accomplished vindictiveness and anthemic charm. Already across a quartet of tracks there is a distinct variety on show which continues in the mischievous Elvis Is Dead. Opening with what just could be the final croon of the man before he died, we wish, the track erupts into one of those irresistible old school punk sing-a-longs. It is barely over a minute of unbridled shouting and stomping from band and listener alike, loosening things up ready for the more intensive might of Burn and straight after Cadaver Doll. The first of the two snarls and growls in sound and vocals, Misfits like toning coating the caustic punk heart of the contagious track whilst the second takes the influence of the US protagonists even deeper into its primal instincts and expels an extremely tasty and feisty prowl of horror punk with a dash of Calabrese. It is another of the biggest peaks in the landscape of the already highly thrilling release.

The same kind of recipe igniting the last two songs is a flavoursome essence in God For A Day, though the song has a more volatile punk intensity which reminds a touch of Crashed Out. Veined by a great sonic groove and adventure, the track hits the personal sweet spot before making way for the excellent Time For Change. Think Angelic Upstarts meets 4 Past Midnight yet singular to The Obnoxious UK, and you get a thick idea of the excellent encounter, which in turn has to depart to allow the hard rock sculpted When Angels Fly Away to blaze away. Initially the song is a classic rock like croon but once its switch is flicked, it bursts into sonic flame fuelled by a punk abrasion and heavy rock temperament. It is another strong offering but lacks the same kind of spark as other songs and especially that within 3 Dead Souls which preys on ears right after. Another irresistible parade of dark rhythmic tempting opens up the encounter, soon followed by a melodic and sonic venture just as shadowed and gripping. As the song pulls back slightly on its predation for the vocals, a raw Tiger Army breath adds to the intrigue and invention, entangling with the rest of the track’s rock ‘n’ roll for a hefty slab of virulence.

Through the psychobilly/horror punk washed Ginger Is A Werewolf and the hostile punk ‘n’ roll of Iceman, the album tightens its grip further on ears and emotions. Both are inescapable offerings which ruggedly seduce and intimidate respectively before Amelia brings a little caustic ‘necro’ romance to the mix.

The bonus track of The Cottage Strangler brings the CD to a close, and it is indeed a bonus as the band slips into a ska punk and dub warped treat of a finale. Like the Vox Dolomites meets Ruts and probably more so Ruts DC, the song is pure pleasure.

Horror Movie Matinee is not really troubling boundaries and forging new inventive templates for punk and rock ‘n’ roll but The Obnoxious UK has definitely unleashed a romp which has body and imagination eager, and pleasure oozing from every receptive pore. That alone is one big reason for all punksters to check out band and album.

Horror Movie Matinee is released on Friday March 13^th on STP Records and can be pre-ordered now @ http://www.stprecords.co.uk/page4.htm

The same day sees the album’s launch party the Cottage of Content in Chasetown where The Obnoxious UK will be joined by Dirt Box Disco.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Obnoxious-UK

RingMaster 04/03/2015

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

Listen to the best independent music and artists on The RingMaster Review Radio Show and The Bone Orchard on Reputation Radio @ http://reputationradio.yooco.org/

 

Calabrese – Born with a Scorpion’s Touch

 

    Calabrese has continued to steal the passions of psychobillies and horror punks worldwide since stepping forward in 2003. Album after album, song after song, show after show, they have been a persistent magnet for those infected by their distinct sound and riotous b-movie inspired presence, and we stand amongst the legion infected. So it was with relish we dived into the band’s fifth album Born with a Scorpion’s Touch which receives its UK uncaging this month. Each of the band’s previous albums has impressed and pushed the band’s adventure but with the new contagion, the trio of blood brothers, Bobby, Davey, and Jimmy Calabrese has unlocked a maturity and exploratory enterprise which opens up a new chapter for the band in songwriting and presence. The trademark Calabrese sound is still the potent lure but it is graced and veined with a greater expanse of styles and ingenuity to create quite possibly the pinnacle of the band’s exploits to date.

     The band has always built their sound on the influential breaths of bands such as The Misfits, Black Flag, Samhain, The Damned, Black Sabbath, Danzig, and Ramones, and there is certainly no deviation from that potent well upon Born with a Scorpion’s Touch either but it is infused with a rich incitement of varied metallic and heavy rock essences within their individual sound. It emerges from this dramatic brew as an enthralling and unpredictable encounter, one which continues to make Calabrese a major force and provocation in underground rock ‘n’ roll. Now though they might just become a well-known incitement for world attention thanks to Born with a Scorpion’s Touch.

    Released via Spookshow Records, the album opens with the brief American Rebel Death Riders, a primarily instrumental track which fires up the energy of album and listener with its mix of groove and thrash metal within a juggernaut of rock ‘n’ roll voraciousness. The track rampages down the ears highway igniting imagination and emotions before departing for the following title track. From the first of expected film samples which has always coloured the band’s releases, a ravenous groove breaks free from within a blaze of riffs and thumping rhythms. It is irresistible toxic bait from which the band swings their hooks and infectious chorus to predictably irresistible effect. It is fair to say there is not many bands who can breed the virulence to their barbs and calls as the Phoenix threesome and no chance that the band will lose their lethal touch, as proven by the second track. Again there is a broader hard rock stroke to the song without removing itself from the masterful walls of psychobilly and horror rock.

     I Wanna Be a Vigilante continues the impressive start, its opening wind swept beach reminding a little of the classic Shangri-las’ song, is soon welcoming the croon of Bobby and Jimmy’s vocals and an emotively honed blaze of melodic punk spawned pop balladry with a definite Ramones like aspect to its expanding walls and lures. There is also an element which reminds of The Damned, a gothic glaze that only adds to the depths of the track’s drama. From its commanding presence the snarling bass of Jimmy welcomes in the next up At Night I Am the Warmest, a track which launches at the ears with a feverish appetite and energy once into its full charge. The rhythms from Davey thump and pummel with intimidation whilst grooves and hooks engage and seduce the senses, all held under the rein of the excellent vocal persuasion singularly and dually of Bobby and Jimmy. As epidemically commanding as a voracious fever, the track leaves appetite and emotions aflame before they are taken on another inflammatory ride by the sonic surges and hunger of Loner at Heart. The track burns and sears the sense with a predatory gait and intensity to its antagonism but tempers it with a delicious weave of melodic and addiction forging enterprise.

     Both Mindwarp and Danger leave lingering fingerprints on passions and memory, the first an almost brawling stomp of rock pop with horror rock provocation and its successor a rhythmically menacing encounter courted by sonic beauty and a cache of insidiously compelling barbed grooves and anthemic toxins. It is a brilliant trap living up to its name with ease. Its might is as good as matched by the tarmac smelling heat of Ride with the Living Dead, the song just another which sparks imagery and creative thoughts as powerfully as it does the ardour which only increases its rapture for the release.

    Only the Dead Know My Name moves in on the imagination next, another ambient setting the veil for a track which seduces with more swerves and curvy temptations than a lap dance and just as unhealthily captivating as reality fades away once up against the claws and grip of the song. It is a stylish and impossibly alluring dance with riffs and hooks instinctive protagonists to give full submission to, as are those unleashed by the brilliant I Ride Alone, though brilliance can be draped over every song on this exceptional inspiration as a trait. As with all the songs, there is a wider, richer colour and fermentation to the band’s songwriting and sound which simultaneously feeds all wants and desires for a Calabrese release whilst exceeding those needs with even greater challenging adventure.

   Closing with the rigorously catchy There’s an Evil Inside, a more singularly rockabilly cast treat, Born with a Scorpion’s Touch is a magnificent slab of resourceful and inventive rock ‘n’ roll, one unafraid to push its and the band’s formerly perceived boundaries, though they have never stood still in pressuring limits to be fair. We suggested that the album was possibly the pinnacle of the band’s creativity until now, listening to it again as this is written let us amend that by omitting possibly.

CALABRESE Official Site

10/10

RingMaster 17/03/2014

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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The Brains – The Monster Within

Room for one more on the list of Album Of The Year candidates?

It may be full already but there is always a place for albums as irresistible and explosively potent as The Monster Within, the latest album from Canadian rockers The Brains. Fusing insatiable encounters of psychobilly and horror punk with straight down the line rock ‘n’ roll, the fourteen track release is one determined and virulently contagious ride before which resistance is futile, especially if the genre ignites furnaces of fire deep inside like for us.

The Monster Within is the band’s sixth album and stands before the ear to prove once again that The Brains just continue to get better and musically they are full bodied like vintage wine with each passing record. The band has lit up every corner of the world through their breath-taking live performances, which haves seen them play with the likes of Mad Sin, The Offspring, The Reverend Horton Heat, The Real McKenzies, The Creepshow and many more, no continent safe from their epidemic toxin of sound, but it might just be that their new album is their finest moment yet. Released via Sailors Grave Records and Stomp Records in Canada, its towering presence can be best described as Rezurex meets Grumpynators with Volbeat, Calabrese, and Tiger Army adding their juices to the mix. What emerges is a sound and release which is truly distinctive to The Brains and an incendiary device for the heart.

The trio of vocalist/guitarist Renè De La Muerte, bassist Collin The Dead, and drummer Pat Cadaver do not hold anything back from the opening note of the first up title track. Energy and riffs are immediately enslaving the ear with relish and hunger as a storm of rockabilly and heavy rock, from which you almost expect Lemmy to step out of, absorb the senses with the outstanding tones of De La Muerte holding court. The music embraces him in powerful and melodic enterprise, everything feeding the awakened passions before them. It is a storming mix of light and dark wrapped in an infection to which escape is impossible from song and subsequently the album as it unleashes more individual but just the same addictive alchemy.

Give It All takes over with a slightly more restrained attack though no less lethal for resistance, its anthemic chorus and full on rhythmic temptation just one of its many lures. The varied and textured mix of sound and flavours across the album ensures that every moment is ridiculously compelling and this track is no exception, in fact one of the most intensively submission ripping triumphs.

A Stray Cats tonic sprays out as Misery unveils its frenetic dance within a blaze of vibrant melodic flames, a cage of frenetic rhythms trapping the passions in a state of ardour whilst the swagger which drives the track home only lights stronger rabidity for what is to come, something which the likes of The Damned and Bleed only encourage further with their devilish teasing. The first of the pair is a smouldering melodic caress hanging onto a rapidly coursing rhythmic and energetic gait whilst its successor lays down a trail of schizophrenic beats and riffs for the melodic breeze of vocals and guitar seduction to light deeper far reaching flames. There is a heat to the song which transports the imagination to climes where sweat on the brow is a given, the same result as achieved by the driving predation of the excellent Stay Back, its uncompromising rock ‘n’ roll passion igniting another anthemic union.

There is not one moment of weakness or a lull in the flow of the album’s quality and glory, the scintillating Electrik Shock with its underlying teasing Cajun twang and the demonically tempting Rest In Pieces with its venomous narrative simply sucking greater rapture from the heart whilst the glorious surf rock instrumental Cucaracha In Leather  finds a somewhat carnivorous fascination for the senses and imagination to work with. The track is a shoe-in for a Tarantino movie somewhere surely.

Suddenly the album seems to lose focus and control…yeah as if. Both Kill Kill and Suffering And Pain seize their moment to ravage and simultaneously exhilarate the ear, their different but kindred charge of rhythmic rapacity and melodic paintwork adding another unique gloss to the emotions. The first finds a low whisper of Eastern mystique to its body whilst the second strolls confidently with a wily enchantment of those ever persuasive vocal harmonies and twisted mischievous guitar invention.

Devil In Disguise and Lies combine to ensure the album does not leave until a visit to their blood drenched sinister hop is taken, their exceptional control of the listeners limbs, voice, and energy surely meaning they are on the most wanted list of perpetrators. They leave Rolling Down to mop up the sweat soaked floor with its melodic, almost pop like croon, though all it wants to do is dance which it does successfully with guitar and drums expanding on the bass led potent diablerie.

The Monster Within is just magnificent, an album with all the majesty to be looked at as one of the true rock ‘n’ roll classics. The Brains has just become the new lust for the site, come join us.

https://www.facebook.com/TheBrainsMTL

10/10

RingMaster 06/09/2013

Copyright RingMaster: MyFreeCopyright

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Shriek: Self Titled

The undoubted bastard sons of one unholy union between Misfits, The Ramones, and Calabrese with The Damned looking on with hellish mischief, US horror punk band Shriek is a band where once bitten by their insidiously infectious sounds a feverish addiction is inevitable. Such is the potent reaction after being devoured by their self-titled album, a release giving a fresh snarl and contagion to recognisable yet fully invigorating rampages of horror.

From Cincinnati, Shriek formed in December of 1998 to follow The Vladimirs as the only successful horror rock band in the city. As the band built a formidable reputation for their blistering live performances and riotous death drenched songs the band went from being a trio to expanding into a quartet and then back again whilst continuing to build a devoted fanbase and recognition in the state and further afield. A brief hiatus occurred in 2004 before the band returned a year later with more changes before their most recognisable line-up of band founders vocalist/guitarist Greg Gallows and bassist Ryan Stone alongside guitarist Josh Thompson and drummer Steve Cox emerged in 2008. The departure of Stone in 2012 was the last change and in many ways a new era for the band with Sean Sleaze coming in on bass whilst Derek Dargum also joined to add his guitar skills.

The intro Enter At Your Own Risk opens the door to the album with expected menace and foreboding , its slow crawl guiding one into the shadows and hungry energy of Corrupting the Youth (with the Truth). An urgent punk riot of thumping rhythms and enjoyably grazing riffs, the track is an immediate anthemic lure with the vocals of Gallows an addition temptation to join the cause vocally and with feisty limbs.

From the irrepressible start tracks like the stomping Walk Again and the ravenous Vampire with its classic metal whispers grip the passions with their arguably traditional horror punk claws whilst the psychobilly seduction brought by Back from the Dead enflames the ear to spark an additional ardour with its melodic flames and slightly lumbering gait. It would be honest to say the album does not offer anything openly new for the genre but there is no doubting its accomplished and impressive sadistic charms which sets the band apart from the majority of horror punk bands.

Into its stride the album continues to impress and gets better deeper in to its mausoleum of fun you go. As thrilling and inviting as the release is heading into the core of its heart it reveals with relish even greater triumphs in its latter half starting with My Girlfriend’s a Zombie. With the guitars tightly reining in their energy to offer a fire of sonic compulsion and the drums thrashing the ear with enthusiasm the track is another catchy temptation for the listener to add their companionship in voice and limbs to, though to be fair each and every song achieves that submission. The song is immediately followed by the best song on the album, Lycanthrope. The song is immense, a storm of savage riffs and equally threatening rhythms undermined by the sheer addictive call of the chorus. Combined it is a virulent persuasion which rivals anything the Misfits have offered over the past couple of decades.

Freddy’s Dead has a stronger punk voice to its malignant scourge which for its brief minute and a half coursing through the ears with a predatory breath whilst the necromantic love song Closed Casket Romantic is a smouldering blaze upon the senses with an uncomplicated decayed emotive caress. Both tracks add further pinnacles to the deeply enjoyable release soon accompanied by the enthralling bruising enticement of Haunted House to leave one in a flush of ardour and invigorated satisfaction.

The band saves one final impressive high with Night of The Creeps, a track which sounds like Danzig in an invasion of the soul with Blitzkid and Necromantix. It is a rabid coating of abrasive energy and once more submits an irresistible entrapment of the senses and heart through its anthemic chorus and serpentine hooks.

Shriek is a band which certainly through their album, does not take long to recruit the passions to a long term agreement with their rampant sounds. The release is one of the most exciting and pleasing horror punk releases in a long time and the band a sure soundtrack to your richest nightmares.

Website               http://shriekcreeps.com

https://www.facebook.com/shriekhorror

8.5/10

RingMaster 10/03/2013

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