Review - Oracular - Jack the Ripper

Oracular

Jack the Ripper

Single, released 30th January 2026, We Are Horror Records

Leicester horror punk band Oracular are a band to keep an eye on as we stumble into 2026; they impressed with the literary-inspired 'Fictious Science' on last years WAHR comp 'The Kids Are All Fright!!!' but return here with a new iteration of the band, promising to deliver some more top tier horror punk to these islands. Their first single is now here, a classic take on the genre in more ways than one, dragging the UK horror punk scene into the new year with singalong-worthy, hard hitting melodic punk rock with a new take on an old tale. 

Fronted by Danny Demented, formerly of UKHP legends Siblings of Samhain, these misfits from the Midlands delve back into the smog filled, gas-lit streets of Victorian London to tell their tale of old Saucy Jack himself, from the infamously unknown serial killers own point of view. A scathing manifesto of the Whitechapel fiend follows, speaking of the joy in his murder spree, of cementing his legendary status which - more than a century on - transcends the murders and has turned the Ripper into an iconic horror figure drenched in the blood soaked events that happened on those dark London streets.

Guitarist Alexander the Grimm, bassist Gonz Van Ghoul and drummer Dee Kreeper deliver horror punk in the 'traditional' style, taking the melodic but aggressive approach of genre luminaries such as Blitzkid, Ripsnorter and the aforementioned Siblings of Samhain and adding a suitably British take on the sound - there's a touch of a rougher, Victorian-slum-like street punk sound to the song, from the spoken-word intro delivered by 'Jack', right through the crunching riffs and the anthemic chorus.  

It's a great start to the year for the newly energised and refocused band, delving into a subject matter that is always ripe for content and delivering a solid and highly enjoyable song which is sure to introduce them to the wider horror punk scene in a suitably blood-drenched and murderous way. 

'Jack the Ripper' is available to stream on all streaming platforms from the 30th January. You can also buy the song from We Are Horror Records which I certainly encourage you to do!

2026 update - the future of the blog

 As things have been going on in the background for the site, but no real new content has been posted in a couple of months, I wanted to post an update here for anyone who is following the site.

Originally I'd planned, somewhat randomly, for the site to solely be dedicated to the UK horror punk scene that I was re-discovering after several years pursuing other interests. I was - and still am - really digging finding new bands and wanted to do something vaguely creative to have an outlet whilst doing so. I had a blog and a name but a very vague idea what I was going to do - some reviews, the odd interview, some random playlists. No real grander plans aside from that.

But delving into the local bands delivering some killer releases in a genre I've always loved led me to widen my horizons. I realised very quickly that whilst I knew plenty of horror punk bands from around the world, there were dozens, hundreds even, that had passed me by. There were plenty of sites online showcasing them, but nothing really seemed to leap out at me as a place to go to discover the wide world of the genre. Seeing as I had this blog in it's early stages it seemed obvious to widen the scope a little. International reviews, a worldwide horror punk band map and list (because I do love a list) and just a wider view of the genre.

Moving into 2026, the horror punk world map has developed into something pretty cool, with over 1,000 bands on it at the moment plus a further 800 already penned in to be added in the next couple of months. After tinkering with some HTML, I also got a working template for the horror punk band list which, whilst still in very early days and not populated by more than one proper entry at the moment, is now setup to allow me to add many more bands quite easily. I'm restarting reviews, have some killer artwork on the way (and attempting to get 100% away from any AI art in the process any that I did use was always placeholder artwork until I got proper bits sorted) and my passion and enthusiasm is at a very high point!

Which leads me to the future. A UK based perspective will obviously remain - I am, after all, from here - but I am currently weighing up whether to change the name of the blog to 'Horror Punk versus the World' to better reflect the direction the blog will go in (and giving me a chance to get some killer b-movie inspired artwork in the process!). I've managed to somehow convince myself this will be a good change as I've written this post, but need to do some checking online to make sure the name hasn't been used before before making the change. So what will happen now in the future, if that change does happen?

- The world horror punk map and band list remain and will be the focus for the next few months. It's nerdy as hell sure, but I love lists and geography (yes, I know!) and from feedback from numerous bands this seems to be a genuinely useful resource. 

- I will add a new section to the site retaining all the 'UK Horror Punk' bits, and still focusing on the UK scene. This hopefully retains my original view of what I was going to do here.

- If I do indeed change the name of the site, I will change address and everything - and fix any links that would therefore not work! Best to do this change before I add tons of content!

- I'm very keen on showcasing horror punk style artwork on the blog and will be, throughout the year, getting in contact with artists to hopefully do this. Not only because the artwork is sick, and it will make the blog look cool as hell, but any very minor thing can I do to shine a spotlight on artists alongside the focus on bands and the horror punk genre has to be a good thing. I will hopefully be commissioning artwork from various sources throughout the rest of the year.

- When I get the above sorted, and settle down a little bit, I'll see about expanding other bits - as always I've got 9000 ideas and time to focus on 2. Putting on some gigs down here in the south west of England is on my agenda (it's been 20 years since I put a gig on, time to get back to it!), a compilation would be cool, and down the line would be great to do some merch - but that's all very far off, and I need to put some proper content up here before thinking about most of that!

- The site will still remain horrendously and gloriously D.I.Y. Whatever I decide to do in the future it will be messy at times, always independent of any bands and labels and very much punk rock. At the moment it's just me, but hopefully that will change as the year progresses and I'm always looking out for similar minded people who are as insane as me and may share some of what I think the site could be!

Just want to finish up by thanking all of the bands and people who have reached out to me since I started the blog. I'm not going to get all sentimental here, but horror punk has literally saved my life this past year (and punk saved me 25 years ago too) and this blog is giving me something to really focus on and which - I really hope - will be of some use to people. The music deserves some more attention and if I can do that at all, even in a small way, and have some fun along the way that's pretty damn cool. 

New International Reviews Roundup

Here's the latest selection of relatively random reviews for recent releases from the wider world of horror punk.

Zipperguts - Books of Blood (Album - 2025, USA)

The first full-length release from Zipperguts is a brutal lesson for those that think every horror punk release sounds the same. Describing themselves as 'Grindhouse Punk' is spot on - this is a dirty, raw, bloodied soundtrack to a serial killer; a grimy piece of malevolent horror punk that should be played with the lights out, preferably after indulging in obscure exploitation horror movies. The gravelly, tortured vocals of Jared Lord tell tales of murder, disfiguration and unhinged horrors - 'Smile', 'Shallow Grave' and 'Last Rites' being particular standouts, whilst the bells toll to open 'I Fuck Nuns' before it descends into blasphemous horror punk savagery. It's like a mix between dark 80s hardcore and first wave black metal (without the metal; through the grime and dirt this is most assuredly a punk album), the audio equivalent to that supposed snuff VHS tape passed around in your teenage years. It's a pretty great album.

You can purchase digitally at the bands Bandcamp page. 

You can also purchase on CD and Vinyl from HorrorShock Records. 

Review - Haddonwood - Deadcase

Haddonwood

Deadcase

Album, released 31st October 2025

Haddonwood hail from the North East of England, that current hotbed of horror punk talent, and have been steadily releasing tracks for all of 2025, each teasing the eventuality of this debut album release which arrived, fittingly, on Halloween. With a stated goal to deliver anthemic, energetic and catchy horror punk covering a wide variety of horror themes (and boasting a literal skeletal drummer, which must be unique) and a good reception to their earlier releases, this is certainly a band on the up - so how does the album hold up? Is it yet another top UK horror punk release this year? Time to take a look.

Review - Bats Bats Bats - All My Friends Are Ghosts and Soon I Will Be Too

Bats Bats Bats

All My Friends Are Ghosts and Soon I Will Be Too

Album, released 30th October 2025

Bats Bats Bats describe themselves as 'emotional punk rock' and that's a very valid description of a band who are horror punk in the vein of Creeper, Alkaline Trio and Salem. A mix of the gothic side of the genre with the emotion-driven melodic punk rock, the band (hailing from London and the south east of England) deliver a polished sound but keep a strong DIY ethos. After a string of a very good single releases, they finally release their debut album - but can it fulfill the potential those earlier releases promised? Let's take a look.

The album (the artwork for which, I must add at this point, is beautiful. It has a vintage Halloween vibe to it which sits very well with the bands sound) starts in a suitably hauntingly way with the scene-setting The Deep, a spoken wood gothic poem before kicking straight into a reworked Ghosts, which was the bands second single release. The original has quickly become a firm favourite of mine, driven along on an energetic melodic punk sound, and the version is here is just as good. There's an added 'echoey' element which works really well and loses none of the punch. A memorable and catchy track to open things up, and legitimately one of the best UKHP songs of all time.

International Review Round-up - A and B bands, classic reviews - part 1

In my continuing attempt to review as many horror punk releases as is (in)humanly possible here is the next in my international reviews, a bunch of classics here all focusing on bands starting with 'A' or 'B'.

AFI - All Hallows (EP - 1999, USA)

Chances are you may be familiar with this classic EP. As AFI moved to a distinctly horror punk/hardcore sound after their earlier releases (of which I am a massive fan - 'Very Proud of Ya' being one of my all time favourite albums), and in the midst of the pair of classics 'Black Sails in the Sunset' and 'The Art of Drowning' that would propel the bands popularity, they released this 4 song EP containing a Misfits cover to make their inspiration readily apparent. The three original songs here are all killer. The relentless energy of 'Fall Children' mixes with a gothic edge and is a classic of the genre; 'The Boy Who Destroyed the World', featured on Tony Hawks 3, is a skate punk meets Misfits ripper, whilst 'Totalimmortal' is just a singalong masterclass. The version of 'Halloween', not a song lacking in cover attempts, *nearly* exceeds the original. Rounded off by some incredible artwork, the All Hallows EP is a horror punk classic.

Streamable on Spotify and available in physical form on various websites!

International Review Round-up - 'numbered' bands, classic releases - part 1

Whilst the focus of this blog is on the UK horror punk scene it would be remiss of me not to take a look at bands from all corners of the world plying their trade in the genre. Whilst I'm aiming to do a monthly (or so) round up of releases starting from the new year (that's 2026, readers in the future) I'm also embarking on a bit of a crazy mission to go through every horror punk band I can discover in, literally, alphabetical order. Why, I hear you say? Because I am insane, obviously... but also, now I'm very much in the groove I can revisit some old favourites and discover many (many) new ones.

The international review round-ups will work a little differently. A short paragraph for each but each post will have at least a half-dozen releases; some old, some more recent. Each post will be sorted by the letter the band starts with - so this post will (slightly annoyingly for fans of the alphabet) focus on bands starting with numbers and is part 1, with part 2 (or 3, 4 etc.) carrying on the trend. It should give some order to things, right? In the case of a few of the more productive bands, I may just do a single post with the reviews of that bands output. There's also a good chance I'll just end up posting random short reviews of classic releases. Who knows how this will pan out!

Numbered Bands - Part 1

5¢ Freakshow - 5¢ Freakshow (EP - 2018, Canada)

The first 5¢ Freakshow introduces the world to the bands psychotic, circus-freak horror punk and it's a pretty damn good EP. The 5 songs are all punchy, with a pronounced psychobilly influence, and the circus theme plays through the release which gives it a style of its own. 'Self Made Psychopath' is the stand out, walloping along with a sense of menace, whilst 'Zombie Girl' starts with a Night of the Living Dead clip and is a classic horror punk love song (with the undead). Not a bad song on this one. 

Available for free on Bandcamp. Can't say no to that, but definitely worth throwing the band some money for this.