Such is the case of a band we just learned about, Italy's Superhorrorf**k, and their late-2013 release, Death Becomes Us.
As you may imagine from their name, Superhorrorf**k - the asterisks are ours, not theirs - are shock rock. Their looks are reminiscent of the Peppermint Creeps and subject matter of their songs are firmly in the Wednesday 13 wheelhouse. Being fans of theatrical rock, we gave Death Becomes Us a few listens and we liked what we heard!
The first of the dozen tracks is "Dead World I Live In," which begins with a bluesy, sleaze-rock guitar riff and proceeds into raunchy horrorpunk. But it's not until the next song, "Down At The Graveyard," that the band's anthemic hooks emerge like hungry zombies at sundown. It's just one of those songs that you find yourself singing in your head long after you've last listened to it.
Horrorpunk has somewhat of a reputation of being a bit repetitious, but Superhorrorf**k keeps the album interesting throughout. "Love After Death" is a little softer and slower, but no less satisfying. And "Voodoo Holiday" really shakes things up by combining a horn section with an early-days-of-rock-n-roll feel and classic horrorpunk. As odd as that may sound, it works thanks in no small part to the contagious melody behind the chorus of "For each one that wants to kiss me, there's another one that wants to kill me." It's pretty much the ultimate sing-a-long anthem on the album.
However, the highlight for me personally is "Threesome With The Dead." This is the first Superhorrorf**k tune I was exposed to thanks to a video sent to me by the band's publicist. The video is strange, sexy, scary, and beautiful. When you're a fan of shock rock like I am, it's the type of video that makes you say "I like this band already!"
Although the songs on Death Becomes Us are sung in English, the listener occasionally gets the reminder that English is not the native tongue of singer, Dr. Freak. However, that is but a minor distraction on a collection of music that is quite impressive.
With shock rock's royalty being represented by a small number of artists like Alice Cooper and Marilyn Manson, Superhorrorf**k is making a decent run for the throne of the genre with Death Becomes Us. Without a doubt, Superhorrorf**k is one of the most interesting bands to capture our attention in the last year.
# of Facebook page "Likes" for Superhorrorf**k at the time of this writing: 2,184.
Helping Hands Rock Reviews prides itself on discovering great bands just before they break. We record the number of Facebook Likes to watch our favorite artists grow and to track how far we are ahead of the curve.
