ASPHYXIUM ZINE

Thursday, May 21, 2015

CD review: VARIOUS ARTISTS Curse Of The Vampire

VARIOUS ARTISTS
Curse Of The Vampire
The Horror Of It All Productions
Curse Of The Vampire is a compilation released by Marquis DeBlood, host of the web series The Horror Of It All that airs during October at What’s Goin’ On Binghamton (whatsgoinonbinghamton.com). DeBlood contributes three cuts to this EP that are quite good. Kiss Of Blood, Halloween Night and Villisca are goth metal/horror rock with an inherent sense of entertaining fun, as if Vincent Price appeared on Elvira’s Midnight Madness (they did guest together on The Tonight Show in 1986). The songs interested me in watching episodes of his podcast this October and reminded me of John Hex’s Creepshow, only less punk-oriented. DeBlood is the owner of Horror-Punks.com, a news and media site that promotes music, art and literature. This community is worth checking out as much as this compilation. At What’s Goin’ On Binghamton and Horror-Punks’ Youtube there are several clips by DeBlood, including his virtual cemetery tours. Such clips are up my alley, so I stumbled onto something I’ll like watching at my leisure. The other tracks included here showcase diversity in the bands Horror-Punks supports. Recycled Zombies (Day Of Wreckening) and Hollow Bodies (Homicidal Night) head into heavier, thrashier territory while The Docktor has a song for fans of techno-industrial (GHOST5 The Haunted). If you like occult rock like Coven and classic rock like Bob Seger, Grace’s Ghost would appeal to you since their song Fire On has elements of both. Others contribute a punk edge with Horror Academy. All the tracks are new and unreleased, gathered exclusively for this EP, and links for the bands are provided at the Bandcamp link above. -Dave Wolff