They Dig After Midnight « The RingMaster Review

We have not been alone in brewing eager anticipation for the debut album of Italian horrorbillies Motel Transylvania having been infected by the sounds of their They Dig After Midnight EP of 2015 as well as the numerous appearances the band has made on various compilations. Four years or so in the making finally that first full-length has crawled from the corridors of the band’s darkest corners and we can tell you it has been well worth the wait.

Formed in 2013 as a solo project of stand-up drummer/vocalist Toxi Ghoul, Motel Transylvania swiftly became a trio which unleashed a well-received debut single in the ghoulish romance of It’s not so bad. The release of They Dig After Midnight in turn established the Savona trio as a band with a potent sound and creative character equipped with the potential of bigger bolder things ahead. Their self-titled debut album realises plenty of that intimation without exhausting all the possibilities of even greater exploits ahead. Across thirteen views from the mausoleum, the album presents a multi-flavoured proposal embracing everything from horror punk and psychobilly to vintage rock ‘n’ roll, punk rock, and other death strewn hues.

It opens up with the portentously atmospheric Called, an invitation into the album’s crypt as intimidating as it is cinematically irresistible. The piece enticingly opens the gateway to the carnal goodness to come starting with Destination. The gorgeous rockabilly groove which harkens its trespass was enough to enslave attention, a submission swiftly rewarded by Toxi’s senses clipping beats and the dark upright bass grumble cast by Fish “The Scarecrow”. The guitar of Taison Gore continues to spin a web of temptation throughout only dropping its raised adrenaline for a breath to be taken before striking up again with salacious intent before the drummer’s lead vocals share their raw scowls. It is an excellent full start to the release and taster of the band’s richly flavoured and varied sound.

The following track shares the band and the album’s name, Motel Transylvania a rousing slice of horror punk with an early Misfits lilt within a labyrinth of psycho and rockabilly taunting. The predacious trespass of the rhythms and vocal causticity steals the show within a track which quickly left its indelible mark before Her Last Boogie launched its raw rock ‘n’ roll stomp on ears with zeal and increasing enterprise. A blend of the feral and the melodically precise, the track is a slice of death boogie needing little time to get punk hips whipped up.

The outstanding Drowning gives warning enough with its bass bred jaws lure before breaking upon the rocks with its blood tainted surf rock groove and barbarous intent while The Night of the Living Dead speeds rather than lumbers through ears with its The Order Of The Fly-esque stalking though the result is still an inescapable rock ‘n’ roll nagging of ears and the imagination. Both tracks add new shades to the album’s adventure and to the unfolding tales of terror; each new pleasure to devour though both are outshone by 4 and its Mad Sin meets Tiger Army like psychobilly shimmer, the albums best track.

The ghostly plains of Beyond The Lights comes next, its unearthly throes psych rock kissed seduction evolving a carnival of fevered temptation before slipping back into its ethereal decay, while its successor, It’s Not So Bad, coaxes ears with its puckered rockabilly lures before erupting in a punk nurtured hostility, repeating the cycle with greater imagination and psychosis. At every turn the track twists into unexpected escapades increasing its magnetism every step of the way.

Continuing the great multi-textured web of sounds within the album, A Place To End embraces Latin/mariachi hues to its Koffin Kats spiced uproar while the following Dead N’ Proud howls like a psychobilly inspired Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13. In turn the simply superb STOMP! Cockroaches stamps around with a great Demented Are Go inspired irritability, these three alone showing the broad landscape of sound within the Motel Transylvania bloodlust.

I Wanna Be Your Ghoul completes the release, the song another psychobilly nurtured tempting under sweltering skies; gallows rock which has the body swinging as firmly as the cadaverous romance it shares.

It is a fine end to a record which certainly pleased and had praise leaving lips on the first listen but has blossomed to far greater heights and persuasion with every subsequent venture through its sonic charnel house.

The Motel Transylvania album is out now through Undead Artists and Archetype Records.

https://www.facebook.com/moteltransylvania/ https://twitter.com/MotelTransylvan

Pete RingMaster 15/11/2018

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If your local graveyard seems a bit dull, feeling a touch lifeless, then an invitation to Italian rockers Motel Transylvania and their new EP They Dig After Midnight will be sure to get things ravenously rocking again. Fusing horror punk and psychobilly in a salaciously dirty punk ‘n’ roll stomp, the Savona hailing trio whip up a keen revelry with their latest encounter, create a sonic hex able to get decayed bodies jerking in tandem with the moves of the living. It is raw, untamed, and an easy trigger for excitement over its wares and the open potential of the band to dig down to deeper success ahead.

Formed in the final throes of 2013, Motel Transylvania began as a solo project for stand-up drummer/vocalist Toxi Ghoul. Within a few months it had grown by two more corpses with the addition of bassist/backing vocalist Vec and guitarist Eli. Inspirations to the band’s sound include, unsurprisingly listening to They Dig After Midnight, Misfits, Zombie Ghost Train, Mad Sin, and Demented Are Go, whilst equally the likes of Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and The Order Of The Fly spring to mind at times across the release. Fair to say though, the Motel Transylvania sound breeds its own character from that healthy mix of influences, resulting in a compelling and thoroughly enjoyable introduction for ears to their tenacious incitements.

From the scenery setting Intro and its dank atmosphere around cinematically gothic and carnival-esque suggestiveness, They Dig After Midnight explodes into life with the rousing Go Psycho! Rhythms and swipes of guitar grab ears from the first breath of the track, Toxi subsequently reinforcing the bait and hold with a solo roll of addictive beats before everything unites again in a heated invitation. The grizzly tones of his vocals growl just as potently as the bass of Vec drops an addiction lighting bassline through the fiery mist from Eli’s guitar, and though the track never explodes into rowdy life as it might it becomes more persistent in its catchy temptation with every rhythmic swing and caustic hook. There is a moment when a thought arose that if The Rezillos were psychobilly, they would sound something like this, a hint to the virulence and mischievous charm fuelling the encounter.

They Dig After Midnight_RingMaster Review The track Motel Transylvania comes next and immediately makes a more forceful but equally infectious blaze of sound and intent. Group calls make an early pungent lure, they sparking the more belligerently energetic heart of the track within a body and nature carrying a contagious provocation with an always welcome Misfits scent to its grouchy temptation.

There is a great strength of variety within They Dig After Midnight, the first pair of songs quick evidence backed by the rockabilly revelry and psychobilly irritation of The Room. Like Guana Batz meets Norm and The Nightmarez whilst digging in a punk grave, the track rocks and rolls like a devil hound on heat. The bone splitting beats of Toxi are a prime instigator of the raucous toxicity fiercely pleasing ears with guitar and bass similarly devilish and antagonistic cohorts.

Summer In the Grave arrives on the sound of waves lapping a dark beach, the guitar carrying a matching tone in its surf lined charm as calm vocals caress ears. There is a devilish wink to the moment though, one which spins a subsequent slim bodied and irresistible Tiger Army meets Buzzcocks rock ‘n’ roll tale with a further glint in its punkish eye. Its warm light within romancing shadows is a thrilling proposal quickly contrasted by the carnivorous temptation of Night of the Living Dead. Graves are emptied as The Meteors toned predation spins a deliciously essential hook as a core to rapacious grooves and hungrily badgering rhythms, they matched by the rabid urgency and snarl of the vocals. The track is glorious, one of the biggest highlights of the album especially with its venomous swagger midway setting up another tempest of savage rock ‘n roll.

It is a triumph more than matched by It’s Not So Bad, the band’s recent single. Slipping in on a heavy noir coated bassline, becoming more vocal with another of the irresistible hooks and grooved enterprise the band has already shown themselves to be potent at sculpting, the song is like a skeletal tango. Its elements unite to form and wrap the song’s volatile frame, offering individual dances in the making of one boisterous romp. There is an old black and white animated film showing skeletons in a demented shuffle, bones twisting and coming unravelled but simultaneously performing an increasingly compelling devilry; It’s Not So Bad is a sonic equivalent.

The release closes with I Wanna Be Your Ghoul, a Morricone-esque croon within a sultry climate scattered with spicy hooks for a dark blood-coated romance for the imagination. It is not a track which grabs the psyche and passions as forcibly as its companions within They Dig After Midnight though but still only pleases as it reveals another strain of imagination in the Motel Transylvania songwriting and sound.

As They Dig After Midnight infests ears for another thoroughly enjoyable romp whilst writing final thoughts, expectations are that Motel Transylvania has all the potential to grow into a formidable and even more striking proposition, and no doubt with plenty more successes like this littering the way.

They Dig After Midnight will be dug up and unleashed on December 18^th via Undead Artists.

https://www.facebook.com/moteltransylvania/ https://twitter.com/MotelTransylvan

Pete RingMaster 17/12/2015

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