Curated by Monk
Well, it’s the eve of our very favourite day of the year, on which the veil between the worlds is briefly lowered and the spirits come back to join the living in the best party in the Überverse… not, that we need any excuse to break out the spirits and get the party started, never mind dress up in stupid costumes and get up to ghoulish goings-on… that’s pretty standard procedure any day of the week/month/year here at ÜRHQ… But it is an excuse to open up the Singles Club for a specially-themed edition, in which the emphasis is on all things creepy and spooky…
Kicking us off this year is gothic industrialist Bjørn Alexander Brem, aka Gothminister, who is awakening some suitably timely ‘Demons’ with the third single from the project’s just-released second album, the equally appropriately titled ‘Pandemonium‘:
Cleveland-based electro-goth rock collective Dispel are fanning the ‘Flames Of Greed’ next, as they take us deep into the world of Dante’s ‘Inferno’ with their just-released second album:
Next, we are ushered into the company of the Acid Witch, actually the name of a horror movie-inspired doom-psych trio from Detroit who are taking us on a trip to ‘5508 Martin Street’, the latest track to be extracted from their recently released fourth album, ‘Rot Among Us‘:
More psych-infused doom next, as French sludgers Witchfinder reveal that ‘Ghosts Happen To Fade’ with this taster of their forthcoming album, which will see us visiting a ‘Forgotten Mansion‘ on 18 November:
One of the undoubted masters of the horror genre is the genius by the name of John Carpenter, who is about to help bring the curtain down on one of the most storied franchises of the past four decades with the declaration that ‘Halloween Ends’. To mark the cinematic release of the conclusive Rob Zombie-directed episode, Boy Harsher has just released a reworked version of the ‘Burn It Down’ segment of the OST:
We’re taking another road trip, and our next stop is at the Black Cross Hotel, where we rendezvous with a punk/industrial/horror metal unit featuring members of Stabbing Westward, The Atlas Moth, Minsk and more, who are preparing to cast a ‘Hex’ on us with their forthcoming debut album, from which the lead single provides us with a ‘Shape’ of things to come (sic):
Sometimes you just have to embrace a Necessary Evil, and that is exactly what we are doing now with the Italian EDM-infused metalcore duo, who are taking us deep into the realms of their ‘Cyberpsychosis’ with this latest extract from their recent debut album:
It wouldn’t be Halloween without some ‘Vampires’, and Cologne shoegaze/post-punk duo Suir have summoned some forth with this rather unusual love song from their recently released new album, ‘Not All Of Your Pain Is Self-Chosen‘:
As we all know, ‘Vampires Come Out At Night’ – but, in case we need reminded, LA songstress Beck Black has done just that with this slice of nouveau punk ‘n’ roll:
Time to enjoy some Coffin Torture as the sludge duo tell us we are just a ‘Crawling Spleen’ with this gloriously vile extraction from their latest album. The song is allegedly inspired by an episode of the cult TV cartoon ‘The Angry Beavers‘, so YouTube search here we come…
We now enter the world of ‘Ghouls And Fiends’ courtesy of London alt-rock duo Wax On Water, who boldly fuse elements from electronica, metal, grunge, goth and industrial on the title track from their latest EP, which explores the concept of how shadow worlds and thoughts define us in the ‘real’ world:
ÜK NWoCRers Syteria are celebrating our favourite time of the year with a double A-side single, one trick of which sees them unleashing some hard rockin’ ‘Monsters’ on our unsuspecting aural cortexes:
A change in mood as pagan metallers Forlorn invoke the spirits of their ancestors with their plea to ‘Hold Me’, a powerful platonic love song released as a stand-alone single to mark a time when those spirits come back to visit us, hopefully in a benign manner:
Italian dark rockers Vlad In Tears are in seasonal mode with this special version of their song ‘Wasted Lives’, a song dominated by a hugely powerful vocal performance guaranteed to send shivers down your spine quicker than the prospect of Nicole Kidman inviting you to play ‘Trick Or Treat’…
Next up, we’re being ushered into the company of the Lords Of Salem, who are telling us how they’re so goth… well, who are we to argue with such a declaration?
There’s officially a ‘Ghost’ in the house, but don’t worry it’s a friendly one, as it is the ethereal new offering from Australian songstress The Effigy. This is one spirit more than welcome to haunt ÜRHQ any time of the year:
Staying in Australia for our penultimate selection, Adelaide metalcore mpb KZRN are wondering if we’ll survive the Halloween weekend… of course we feckin’ will’ ‘cos we’re in control of the playlist and the good news is that these guys have made it onto it:
Finally for this special edition, it wouldn’t really be Halloween without a new single from Wednesday 13 now, would it? And the man has duly obliged, with his declaration that it’s a ‘Good Day To Be A Bad Guy’ – which is basically any day of the year as far as we at ÜRHQ are concerned:
So, there you have it… our soundtrack for summoning demons, shaking hands with ghouls of all shapes and sizes and enjoying all things spooky and supernatural. Until next time, grab a cup of pumpkin soup, trick a treater and, above all, keep on Über Rockin’… \m/
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