The B Movie Monsters – From The Theatre To The Grave

  • Cole Faulkner posted
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The B Movie Monsters

From The Theatre To The Grave - Robot Monsters Inc.

To quote Robot Monster Inc, Indiana’s The B Movie Monsters is “the epitome of horror punk.”  And I couldn’t agree more.  For better or worse the ghoulish foursome completely submit themselves to the timeless lure of cheesy monster movies, building their sound around the black and white classics that inspired b-movie specialists like Ed Wood many moons ago.  So it should come as no surprise that their Robot Monster debut, From The Theatre To The Grave, is a true celebration of horror.

Throughout their debut the band draws upon anything and everything you might expect from a band of monster idolizers.  There are cheap thrills, gruesome comedies, and non-stop b-movie references.  Look no further than the track listing: “Return Of The Living Dead,” “Salem’s Lot,” “House On Haunted Hill,” “The Bates Motel” – just add a little Pet Cemetery and Nightmare on Elm Street into the mix and you’d have a veritable “best of” list of 20th century horror flicks.  From a content perspective, these fifteen tracks are any horror geek’s dream.

And as far as the music goes, The B Movie Monsters back up their content with some solid fundamentals.  Fronted by vocalist “Van Heller,” the band easily falls in line with genre mainstays BlitzkidNim Vind, and Son Of Sam.  Heller’s voice has an echoic analogue quality to it, making him a natural fit for the album’s content.  Guitarist Dr. Hyde and drummer Doomsday offer some pleasing melodic woahs, rounding out their surprisingly punchy instrumental contributions.  It’s nothing terribly new, but fits the genre and source material like a glove.

That being said, as far as future endeavors go, the band will find their next big leap forward in refining their narrative approach and interacting with their movies more completely.  As it stands now, most tracks draw upon a variety of audio clips from the corresponding movie.  However, most of these surface as intros or conclusions, making them feel only monetarily connected.  For example, “Salem’s Lot” only features a brief opening audio clip, which is disappointing considering the movie’s abundance of eerie quotable moments offered by the town of Salem’s Lot’s vampire community.  And while the lyrics do survey the town’s lore, it’s easy to imagine how increased narration stands to further immerse listeners.  Some tracks like “Bates Motel” (of Psycho fame) – with its classic Norma Bates “Fruit Cellar” commentary in the place of a bridge – realize this bang on, making the prospect of future B Movie Monsters projects quite promising.  It is in fact their movie interaction that gives The B Movie Monsters a unique edge amongst horror punk’s hoards of Misfits wannabes, so fine tuning their content interaction for future releases is a must.

Now, some may shrug off The B Movie Monsters as business as usual in the horror scene, but this would be ignoring the group’s immense focus.  This isn’t a band inspired by horror movies – it’s a band about horror movies.  And considering how much source material remains untapped, that more than justifies the band’s agenda.

From The Theater To The Grave isn’t the next great leap in horror themed punk, but when a band like The B Movie Monsters demonstrates such a commitment and understanding to genre fundamentals, there’s no shame in that.  Horror enthusiasts should find a lot to like here.