EP Review: The Scabby Ghouls – Self Titled

Across the seven tracks that populate The Scabby Ghouls debut releases the spooky Omaha punks cover the expected subject matter, Freddy Kruger makes and an appearance as does true crime, the Black Dahlia murder, and zombies, rage and violence are all present, but The Scabby Ghouls are not your run of the mill horror punk monsters, something has gone awry with this experiment, I can only presume that somewhere there’s probably a sheepish looking lab assistant looking at a jar wondering who Abbey Normal was.

The opening of The Scabby Ghouls debut EP comes across like it’s straight out of the Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein textbook for horror punk, I’m all set to start scribbling about the shadow of The Misfits casting a long shadow then something unexpected happens, The Scabby Ghouls head off at tangent and move away from the expected soundtrack and instead they head off into zombie fuelled surf punk. It’s no surprise that the likes of The Misfts and The Spookshow do have an influence on The Scabby Ghouls, but this is less about serious horror and instead captures the camp spirit of Elvira Mistress Of The Dark, The Return Of The Living Dead and maybe even Scooby Doo.

The Scabby Ghouls happily embrace the cartoonish side of horror, this is is no way a bad thing, the best horror villains always had a twisted sense of humour and The Scabby Ghouls are no exception. If you love horror punk then this should be on your shopping list, the DNA of the established bands we all know and love is embedded deep within The Scabby Ghouls, but in best Young Frankenstein tradition you don’t always get the bits you expected and vintage punk rock and garage punk have been transplanted into The Scabby Ghouls sound to create a welcome twist on the horror punk genre. IT LIVES.

The Scabby Ghouls EP can be streamed and purchased via Bandcamp here