AUDIO-DROME
CINEMACABRE
FEATURES
NINTH CIRCLE
AUDIO-DROME
DREADLINES
CINEMACABRE
FEATURES a “Drastic times call for drastic measures and, s the dire doldrums of the 19th century set 12
has attracted a small but crazed cult fan- base (who often send in self-mutilation photographs for Zombina). Over the course of six albums the band has shared stages with the Misfits, GWAR, Groovie Ghoulies and The Damned. Pegged by Tomb as “cooler than the Blair Witch’s tits” in RM#87, the quintet from Liverpool, Eng- land sounds like a gothic version of The Muppet Show on this contribution to our collection of sonic psalms. TT
T “Something Weird”
ZOMBINA AND THE SKELETONES Fiendforce Records
f“‘Something Weird’ is the secret track rom the 2009 album Out of the Crypt and
Into Your Heart. It’s a tribute to the excellent horror/exploitation video label of the same name, and also a song about something weird happening...
” ZOMBINA
HE “DEMONIC BRITISH INSTITUTION” known as Zombina and the Skeletones
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“Grave Robber At Large”
CREATURE FEATURE Sumerian Records
in, a new type of business opportunity pres- ents itself to an enterprising few. Sickness ravages the streets, modern medicine lingers in its infancy, and the human body still re- mains a mystery. When all is lost, sometimes the only way for a civilization to forge ahead, is to act uncivilized. Experiments must be ex- ecuted, dissections must be conducted, an- swers must be found, but most of all, test subjects must be procured. The work of a grave robber is ghastly and dangerous indeed, but if you toss your conscience into the wind there are untold riches to be made from the recently deceased.
”CURTIS X
N 2005, SINGER/GUITARIST CURTIS RX AND ERIC X (SAMPLERS, SYNTH) EMBARKED ON AN ODYSSEY OF DARK CARNI- val tunes inspired by everything from Danny Elfman and Goblin to Edward Gorey and Ray Bradbury. Rich, playful and cin-
ematic, their debut, The Greatest Show Unearthed, is full of terrible tales of zombies (“Aim for the Head”), kidnapping (“Bound and Gagged”) and alien invasion (“Look to the Skies”). For Hymns, the beastly boys from LA have graced us with the freshly embalmed “Grave Robber at Large,” a world premiere track from their yet-to-be-named follow-up. This catchy cut feels like the title track from a ghoulish cult flick yet to be made. DA
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ZOMBINA.DE AUDIO-DROME “Saint of Killers”
DAMN LASER VAMPIRES Devil’s Ruin Records
AUDIO-DROME
a“Sometimes we’re on stage and I feel that, apart from the folks dancing FEATURES
closely. Several times I’ve known that among them is somebody who came to listen to this song because it talks straight to him. This is not about sal- vation or redemption, this is just our way of getting closer to that danger- ous individual and saying, ‘I know how you feel.’
nd having fun, a different kind of audience is standing around, listening CINEMACABRE
NINTH CIRCLE ”RON SELISTRE CINEMACABRE FEATURES
polka! The debut, Gotham Beggars Syndicate, wove a common thread through the darkness with a ghostly sincerity that simultaneously scared and rocked us – no better illustrated than on the standout cut “Saint of Killers,” the band’s po- etic olive branch to the dark passenger in all of us. TT
MYSPACE.COM/DAMNLASERVAMPIRES
T AUDIO-DROME NINTH CIRCLE CINEMACABRE DREADLINES FEATURES
HIS BRAZILIAN TRIO FRONTED BY RON SELISTRE CAUGHT OUR EAR IN RM#80 with its unusual blend of gothic punk, new wave, psychobilly and...
DREADLINES
AUDIO-DROME
NINTH CIRCLE CIN
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with “Hurt,” a noisy new slice of horror- punk pop rock from their forthcoming dou- ble album The Birth of Hatred. The legendary band they emulate endorses their re-imagining of the famous sound, even signing them to Misfits Records. It was back in RM#71 that we first reported on this Osaka quartet that devoted itself heart, soul and skull to the ’fits. TT
MISFITSRECORDS.COM
T
“Hurt”
BALZAC Misfits Records
“The song ‘Hurt’ takes heavy influence ”
from Hitchcock’s Psycho. Fusing the creepy atmosphere of the film with our horror rock sound, the end result is an en- ergetic, dark pop number. HIROSUKE NISHIYAMA
HE MISFITS’ JAPANESE DOPPEL- gängers Balzac weigh in on Hymns
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Soul,” previously only available on hard-to-find Bloodshot Records compilation For a Decade of Sin (2005). Harvesting a generous crop of doom and gloom, the Handsomes live up to their name with this beautiful, woeful take on a standard, mu- sically weighing the price of sin. TT
T
HANDSOMEFAMILY.COM
“The Lost Soul”
THE HANDSOME FAMILY Carrot Top
“We first heard ‘The Lost Soul’ on a record called The
Watson Family, in which Doc Watson and his family sit around and sing songs they wrote or learned as kids or sang in church. It was mind-boggling to imagine these sweet country people singing such a dark song in church, especially when most of their other songs were about lick- ing groundhog gravy off their chin and other such Ap- palachian fun and games.
”RENNIE SPARKS
HE HUSBAND AND WIFE DUO OF BRETT AND RENNIE Sparks contribute their version of the traditional “The Lost
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accordion, clarinet, flugelhorn, violin, glockenspiel and castanets into its “funeral dirges for the living.” At its liveliest, the Mon- treal ensemble sounds like a post-bender Tom Waits picking fights at a flea market. But when settled down, as on “Oil and Blood” – the title track from the group’s forthcoming sopho- more album – nobody spins a mournful, candlelit melody like Unsettlers’ singer B.W. Brandes and co. TT
MYSPACE.COM/THEUNSETTLERS
T
OUTRO BY RM RADIO + “Oil and Blood”
THE UNSETTLERS Independent
“‘Oil and Blood’ came from a nightmare I had about a lit-
tle girl washing her face in an old porcelain sink filled with motor oil and animal blood. The only light in the room was a bare, swaying light bulb. Her shadow was playing a rusty old saw and what appeared to be a stringless violin. As the twisted sounds intensified, she turned and said, ‘I’d cut the head off a nickel for all your bad luck.’
”B.W. BRANDES
HIS “8,9,10-PIECE BAND” BRINGS A WHOLE CREEPY antique shop of instruments to the party, incorporating toy
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