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I first stumbled across Hallowmas – The Road To Hallow’s Eve on the Century Media Records online store – CM Distro.com. The CD cover artwork took my Metal breath away, I am a huge Metal sucker for the scary and horrific album covers… this goes back decades for me. You cannot always judge a book, uh, album by it’s cover. In the case of my purchasing The Road To Hallow’s Eve based on the artwork and song titles, well, I proclaim a Horror Punk victory! This album is on Coffin Records, a recognized label notorious for underground talent. Hallowmas released this album back in 2005, I bought it about one year ago, during one of my Halloween spirited moods. Cutting to the Metal chase here, this is one dandy of a Horror Punk Band, a terrorizing thrill a second is The Road To Hallow’s Eve. It’s all good… Horror Punk style. I have numerous times, since buying this CD, have tried to read and/or find out more about this cool Hallowmas band… all in vain however. The only trail I find on the world wide web about them are the basics I found in the liner notes of this very album. Hallowmas is without question an underground Horror Punk band. I sincerely hope they resurface and continue their Horror Punk path… The Road To Hallow’s Eve makes for an intense foundation for them to build upon.

Lead singer Boris Randall does remind me of the Misfits era Glenn Danzig… strikingly similar, still there was and always will be only one legendary Glenn Danzig. Hallowmas plays tight enough to forge together quality Horror Punk Rock songs, all the while giving off the impression that this is as uncommercial a band that will ever be. To say that this album Rocks is a Metal understatement of the facts… this album leaves me wanting more, much more Hallowmas please. The center spread photo of the band, within the liner notes, shows them donning skeleton costumes and skeletal makeup. Between the music Hallowmas plays, along with their persona, it would be too easy to dismiss them off as copycats of the Misfits. By comparison, look at how many Death Metal bands that share the same characteristics of their peers – how many Glam/Hair Metal bands that sported the same look as their peer bands. As a devout fan of the Misfits, I personally am flattered when other Punk or Horror Punk bands take on the style of such a historical and legendary band.

The more I listened to The Road To Hallow’s Eve, the easier it was for me to break into the shell of the Hallowmas Horror Punk and hear some spirited originality. Each song is Rock and Roll rooted, from the pulsating rhythm section to the attention grabbing guitar riffs, a fine mixture of Old School Punk meets dark infested Horror Punk this album is. The only song (based on the info in the liner notes), that Hallowmas did not perform or write on this album is Road To Hallow’s Eve. This is a gothic influenced and spooky instrumental, (keyboards), that was written and performed by Killjoy and Sigh’s Mirai Kawashima… I find the vocals to be quite haunting, almost like a chant you would not want to hear alone in a remote and dark forest. In my Metal opinion, Hallowmas and The Road To Hallow’s Eve is another devilishly cool Horror Punk CD that I will turn to often… especially this Halloween Season!

Hallowmas as they appeared on The Road To Hallow’s Eve:

Boris Randall – vocals

Damien Matthews – guitar

Johnny Coffin – bass

Drew Blood – drums

The Road To Hallow’s Eve – Track Listing:

The Hanging Girl

Twins Of Evil

Planet X

Miss Devil Doll

When You’re Blue

The Road To Hallow’s Eve

Pagan’s Night

This entry was posted on September 25, 2009 at 3:54 am and is filed under Album Review, collecting music, collecting rock music, cool album covers, creepy album covers, essential punk rock albums, halloween rock music songs, horror punk, horror punk album covers, horror punk album review, horror punk albums, horror punk rock bands, horror punk rock music, horror punk rock music 2005, horror punk songs, metal odyssey, Music, Punk rock, punk rock album review, punk rock album reviews, punk rock albums, punk rock music, punk rock musicians, punk rock songs, rock and roll, rock music, scary album covers, spooky album covers with tags boris randall vocalist, century media records, cm distro.com, coffin records, damien matthews guitarist, drew blood drummer, halloween, hallowmas, hallowmas horror punk band, hallowmas punk rock band, hallowmas the road to hallow's eve album 2005, horror punk, horror punk album review, horror punk rock music, johnny coffin bass guitarist, mirai kawashima vocalist, punk rock music, punk rock music 2005. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.