UK horrorpunks Siblings Of Samhain offer us up album number three just in time for the spooky season! Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre is 12 tracks of dark, creepy yet incredibly catchy punk rock dedicated to a plethora of gore-tastic blood soaked horror themes. From the first track "Bury Me" you are immersed in the sing-a-long chorus and layered backing vocals that get completely stuck in your head. Some songs are angled towards a particular horror movie or character; "Monsters And Madmen", "Deadlights Ahead" and "The Night He Came Home" are a couple of examples whilst others cover horror in a broader sense yet still covering all bases with werewolves, possessions and a whole host of lovely ghouly creatures.
Siblings Of Samhain are a duo consisting of Danny Demented on lead/backing vocals and Billy Butcher on Guitar, bass, drums and also backing vocals. This album, as well as their previous releases really showcases their talent as musicians. They did manage to snag some great guests to feature on a few of the tracks for this album. Robby Bloodshed, Nikky Casket and Bilo Von Gacy, TB Monstrosity and Marko Villain lend their vocal and guitar talents on various tracks. Siblings Of Samhain are a band inspired by a great variety of great horrorpunk bands from classic Misfits to Blitzkid and they well and truly embrace the style of proper old school horrorpunk yet they make it their own and their love of all things horror is apparent and very infectious.
The tracks flow seamlessly from one story to the next and you can tell that they've really thought about the order of the songs. I like the use of samples over some of the tracks and the short spoken word track "Whetstone" midway through is a welcome macabre intermission. Stand out tracks for me are most definitely the catchy "Bury Me", the dynamic "Sardonic" and "The Night He Came Home" which features a great interpretation of the Halloween theme.
Essentially their music is punky, well paced and energetic and they have a great knack of making even the more ballardy songs like "Sardonic" up beat and lively. Three singles from Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre have been released in the run up to the album launch; "Monsters and Madmen" a track conceived from the mind of Rob Zombie, "Deadlights Ahead" an ode to a King favourite and the aforementioned "Sardonic" which is a great selection to showcase the album. The CD version of Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre will have an exclusive track in the form of a cover version of "Ghost Town" by The Specials. This is a proper treat as this version captures the essence of the original yet Siblings manage to completely make it their own. Anyone can do covers and most do them well but I especially love it when bands mess around with them.
Sound and recording wise the instruments are clear and well balanced, as are the vocals. For me though, the vocals are a little high in the mix but then again if I had a voice like Danny I would want to shout about it so it certainly is nothing to complain about! The mix between the main and backing vocals does sound great and compliment each other perfectly. The artwork is more toned down and subtle compared to some of their other stuff but it incorporates the atmosphere of the albums theme. Overall as a completely self written, composed, performed, recorded, produced and released album Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre is a real triumph for the band and a joy to listen to. Tales of Love, Death and the Macabre will be available to purchase from the 1st October through Siblings Of Samhains bandcamp and other socials, the physical CD version will also be available and don't forget this version has the exclusive cover of "Ghost Town"!
