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. 

Review - We Are Horror Records - The Kids Are All Fright!!! Compilation

The Kids Are All Fright!!!

Various Artists

Released by We Are Horror Records in 2025

Review

Punk Rock is built on great compilations and the discovery of new bands. I practically had my 90s punk exposure dictated by Epitaph's 'Punk-O-Rama' series and Fat Wreck Chords 'Fat Music'; legendary 80s compilations like Dischord's 'Flex Your Head' or the 'This is Boston not LA' record expanded the spread of early hardcore punk in the states and stand as testaments for the era today, whilst 'Bullshit Detector' did the same for the anarcho-punk bands of the day. In fact it would be impossible to even try and list all the great examples that have peppered the punk scene over the decades - and if I had to list every band that I got into due to hearing them on a compilation, I'd never finish this review (although special mention to the Household Name Records comps in the early 00s which capture the punk/hc/skacore era perfectly). Horror punk is not immune to a good comp either - the 'This is HorrorPunk' records are essential and my first exposure to dozens of great proponents of the genre has come from the numerous examples available from labels both small and big. In the last few years however, it has been UK record label 'We Are Horror Records' which has put out the most noteworthy examples, packed full of great bands and with plenty of representation from these islands. It's not an understatement to say that the labels continued devotion to the genre has given me, and no doubt others, a real boost in our own love for the music with quality releases aplenty and - some would say finally - a real UK edge to the genre. The latest release from the label - just in time for Halloween! - packs in 19 songs from 19 bands (15 songs on the vinyl release), the majority of which are previously unreleased, with strong representation from UK horror punk bands, some genre-adjacent picks and some pretty awesome covers to boot... so how does it compare to other great compilations? Let's take a deep dive...

Review - The Magnetic Monsters - Wrong Side of Town

 

The Magnetic Monsters

Wrong Side of Town

Album, released October 11th 2025

There seems to be something stirring in the North East of England. Fast becoming a formidable location for up-and-coming UK Horror Punk bands (with both Hellbound Heist and Haddonwood also from the region), there's clearly something horrific blowing up to the area from the gothic paradise of Whitby, as here comes The Magnetic Monsters with a debut album to welcome in the spookiest of months. The Washington-based duo (Conor Dutson and Alexandra Duston-Mitchell) deliver 11 tracks of straight up Horror Punk with clear inspiration from the masters of the genre, whilst not being afraid of putting their own spin on things. I'd been following the band on social media for a while, eagerly awaiting this release - so how did it turn out?