Cheltenham’s Horror Punk/Death Rockers ‘The Screaming Dead’, whose name is drawn from the English title of the 1972 horror film “Drácula contra Frankenstein”, have had a chequered history, splitting up in 1985, reforming again in 1997; then disbanded again in 1999 and finally reforming in 2014 but the consistency across all of this period has always been the quality of their music and live performances which has not waned over the years, if anything they’ve gotten better.
Over their career to date they’ve delivered five singles/EP’s and three full lengths and due to the popularity and demand for their past releases, the current line-up of Sam Bignall on vocals, Pete Mazlag on guitar, Mal Page on bass and Hugh Fairlie on drums have released the aptly titled ‘The Resurrection’ EP, five of their most popular songs and it must have been a difficult choice given the addictive and catchy nature of their back catalogue.
The first four are ‘Screaming Dead’ originals, ‘Necroaria’, ‘Damned Generation’, ‘Night Creatures’ and ‘20th Century Vampire’ with it’s thought provoking lyrical content, all up all tempo and catchy with hugely addictive, sing along choruses and although all the tracks, have featured on one or more of either ‘Children of the Boneyard Stones’ (cassette) 1982, 1993’s hugely sought after compilation ‘Bring Out Yer Dead’ or 1997’s ‘Death Rides Out’ albums, these are all brand new versions, recorded at Two Rivers studio in Cheltenham , showcasing the bands current sound, richer, more mature but still punk as hell!
The absolute must inclusion on this release is the Rolling Stones cover ‘Paint it Black’ also previously on ‘Bring Out Yer Dead’, the bands old indie hit and originally recorded as a bit of a tribute to Brian Jones who is buried in their home town of Cheltenham, it’s the only “Stones song” I ever liked and is made all the better given the Punk touch.
This is such a great EP, five nostalgic Punk anthems, superb end to end, I put it on repeat and ended up playing it at least ten times over, it’s an essential listen you won’t tire of!
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