Horror punk power couple Anders and Davallia Manga release their new album Songs of Unspeakable Terror. Creatures of the night come take your place amongst the living. Mortal beings beware. Retro horror punk is the name of the game here from Bloody Hammers.
With the return of the Swedish buzzsaw sound on recent releases from Frozen Soul and Wombbath, bands need to please stop reminding us of the days before 2020. Not that the world was really much better – it was still a pretty shit place. But at least we could go to gigs!
Yes I know this isn’t metal. But we need musical variation in our life, and we cannot deny the influence horror punk has has on the heavy metal universe. The ones that started it all – The Misfits, are well known to have influenced metal titans Metallica and rock icons Guns ‘n’ Roses.
Retro is clearly the name of the game here from Bloody Hammers, in contrast to their previous album. 2019’s The Summoning is considerably more contemporary in its style – in a lightning fast doom metal kinda way. In fact plenty of The Summoning could easily weave into a Ghost album without issue. FYI lightning fast doom metal is somewhat approaching mid tempo by typical musical standards.
There’s nothing particularly adventurous or technical about Songs of Unspeakable Terror. But that’s not the point. It’s straight up 3 minute fuzzy power chord ballads to the occult. The 11 tracks coming to a grand total of 32 minutes. Straight from the off A Night to Dismember hits you straight to the no nonsense punk vibes. The tempo may flex up and down song to song, but the vibe doth remain intact.
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die is the standout for me. Take your standard cheesy pop-punk anthem longing for a love lost to the winds of chance. Add a large sprinkle of fuzzy tone. Replace the lost love for an undead cerebrum longing for new flesh and bone and you have yourself a twisted love song. Fiendish, and brilliant. A paean for the undead to cherish.
Lucifer’s Light is the first time Songs of Unspeakable Terror really calms down. A hauntingly creepy ode to close out the album aptly. Except it isn’t the final track. Final track I Spit on Your Corpse picks up the pace again and feels like the kick off to a new album. They should have swapped these two around as messes with the aesthetics of closing the album out.
Maybe I don’t look particularly hard but there isn’t a lot of this around anymore. Ghost are probably the biggest link to this piece of punk history still in the limelight. If you are expecting modern avant-garde prog you have come to the wrong place. However, if you are looking for a rollicking good time, grab your stake and hammer, and enjoy Songs of Unspeakable Terror.
Score 7/10
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