Posted on: August 7, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

The Horrifics – Now Fear This / 2006 1031 / 17 Tracks / http://www.thehorrifics.net / http://www.1031records.com /

I must admit that I did not expect a hard type of punk music looking at the band. One member of the band has hair like Wayne Static and yet another looks like ey would be perfect in Union Underground. However, what The Horrifics sound like is nothing like how they look. “Uzumaki” is the first full track on “Now Fear This”, and it links together the TKO streetpunk sound with the more Irish-punk of the Dropkick Murphys and hints of early Pennywise. “That Which Looks” is where this Pennywise influence starts, and this mid-nineties California sound allows for The Horrifics to go and create another song that individuals can easily sing along with. This track also shows that The Horrifics can go and use other punk styles; the band has their fair share of Misfits influence present during this track, even when one considers the California architecture that the track is built on.

The horrorpunk sound really kicks in for “Forever The Night”. The band does not really derivate from the sound created by a Misfits or Balzac, but they are able to carry the torch without making a mockery of the genre. The fact that the production of the disc is strong makes it stand up quite strongly to the rest of the horrorcore on the market. By having the classic brand of horrorcore (using goth-like imagery and catchy, cartoonish vocals), The Horrifics make a slow starting “Now Fear This” into a pretty damn decent album. While most bands can’t stay fresh and interesting through seventeen tracks (and many bands struggle to get through ten or eleven), The Horrifics are capable enough to and actually will make individuals salivate for the chance to hear more music.

By far, the best track on “Now Fear This” is “This Hungry Suffering”. “This Hungry Suffering” is a track that is slow, emotional, and sounds kind of like “Saturday Night” (a later Misfits song). The catchiness is cranked up all the way, the band shows me that they should be a bigger act, and 1031 is shown to be smart as hell for getting this band to release on their label. If you are a fan of any of the aforementioned acts, give “Now Fear This” a few spins. It’s relatively short (36 minutes), it’s catchy, it’s fun and will get a party bumping. If you like punk music in general, there will be something on this disc that you can latch onto.

Top Tracks: Scarecrow Fields, In Dark Descent

Rating: 8.3/10

 

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