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.

Death Letters follows on, and is another released earlier as a single (the bands third). This is definitely more in the vein of the emotional-horror-punk bands named earlier - a tale of woe and heartbreak on a foundation of melodic punk rock; an epic sounding gothic-tinged track that would happily sit alongside early Creeper in the annals of great examples of this type of music. Once Upon A Time is the first song new to me on the release, and this is another song which displays its influences strongly. It wouldn't be lost as an Alkaline Trio release (somewhere between 'Good Mourning' and 'Crimson'), but the band is able to make this sound their own. A soaring group chorus punctuates a heartfelt tale of heartbreak and memories and despite being the longest song on the album doesn't outstay it's welcome.

Dead & Gone was the bands fourth single release, the last before the album dropped, and it very much has the same sort of feel as the previous two tracks. Emotion laden gothic punk rock which creates the sort of mist-laden graveyard atmosphere that is quite irresistible. Ten Thousand Times is another new track, a pop-punk powered song that continues the 'gloomy' feel of the earlier songs, and adds to the impression that this could be a lost gem from the mid-90s Chicago emo scene.

Bats Bats Bats first came to my attention with their first release, Darkness, which is the next track on the album. Along with 'Ghosts' this is undoubtedly a stand out song, another punk rock emotional roller coaster, dripping with gloom but with undeniable hooks and a singalong chorus that will stick in your head. I'll admit at this stage that the word 'Emo' usually puts me off records. I was never one; it was never a phase for me because whilst the mass of emo kids in Bristol huddled around College Green, I was far more into skacore, hardcore and anarcho-punk. It annoyed me greatly that my beautiful Misfits t-shirt (which I still have!) somehow grouped me in with these silly hair sporting skinny kids. It still does, damn it. However, with time and maturity I have learnt to respect certain elements of that time, and musically I was never that adverse to some emotionally heartfelt songs (or to the poorly used phrase 'emo', I was always a big fan of the Dischord post-hardcore releases). The band ends the album with two slowed down mostly acoustic songs that are achingly personal Dead Star and Redeemed. For me they are not as strong as the other songs on offer here, musically, but they help contribute to the darkness, gloom and despair that seeps out of the entire record. They also demonstrate some of the bands absolutely beautiful lyrical writing.

There's no monsters or ghouls here - other than, perhaps, the ones living in us all - but Bats Bats Bats follow in a tradition of a sector of horror punk that is more popular with listeners outside the genre, and if this expertly crafted piece of emotional punk rock is anything to go by, this is a band that will become much bigger in the years to come. An album which really gets you in the feels.

You can find the band on Instagram here and the band's linktree address is here. The album is available for streaming on Spotify here. The band are also currently on tour, so check them out!