The name says it all for the Finnish quartet – an album potentially full of cliché horror punk lyrics, themes, music and just another band to laugh at for having a rather ludicrous name. However, take note that I used the word “potentially.” It could have happened, there’s no doubt about that, but having been to quite a few horror punk gigs myself, this album is something not to be laughed at and dismissed easily. Containing near pop punk before divulging into massive breakdowns, this is one of the best releases I’ve heard of this year so far.
This band may like the word “gruesome” as it appears twice in the album title, thrice in “Dr Gruesome and the Gruesome Horror Show” from the eerily spoken word and the rather obviously Misfits influence, with its thematic instrumental behind it. After the slightly tediously long introduction, we’re thrust into the world of singer Allan Cotterill (Jeremy Thirteenth): an explosion of furious guitar riffs and ballistic drumming. Hell, there’s even sing along moments with the “Hey! Hey!” chanting that never gets old, provided it’s used correctly. Even the breakdowns may be simple, but they’re still enough to create the aggressive atmosphere of the band, and it’s used dynamically throughout the album and not the traditional “Scream, clean sung chorus, stupid breakdown, and repeat” formula as Jeremy utilises the clean vocals to his advantage due to the lack of screaming. “There’s a New Creep on the Block” is rather patronising by Mr. Thirteenth, as he takes a stab at the band haters. It’s one of the album’s heaviest tracks/highlights, adding the good old fashioned church organ to give it the B-movie horror feeling. “Will You Meet Me In The Graveyard?” is their latest single, although it seems to be a rather weak choice. It seems the band can’t choose whether to go for the full horror sound or include poppy hooks and insane musicianship, so they just do a 50/50 and include half of each. “Halloween means Death” has one of the catchiest guitar riffs to date thanks to Tuomo “Tupi” Raisanen. He provides high octane energy that courses through the song, up until a slow change to clean guitars. Then Niko “Hoker Dine” Hyttinen breaks the silence with his drumming skills and the band then storms into a breakdown that transitions into the catchy chorus that’s attached to the end. The energy possessed on this album is more powerful than an Olympic athlete on steroids, with “Count Dracula’s Kid!” full of progressive guitar lines and still keeping with Snow White’s Poison Bite’s insanely catchy lyrics before creating yet another powerful breakdown. “Dr. Gruesome” finally shows up in a near three minute rush of screaming and coming across as the ultimate heaviest track on the album. It’s crazy, considering they’ve just changed their formula entirely to compensate for the atmosphere of the track that works to an advantage, considering the amount of ass it kicks. Even the ferocious breakdown is enough to make you want to jump around in a miniature mosh pit. And behold “Zombie Romance” which is almost a waltz track about zombies in love, featuring the one and only Michale Graves, before the punk side of the band jumps out and attacks your ears unexpectedly. “Lurking Inside of You” takes a slower approach, calming down with the anthemic post-hardcore influence that’s just sprouted out of nowhere. Finally, the album ends on “The Show Must Gruesomely End”, telling you to tell your friends that the “Horror crew will be back again.”
And should you listen to that message? That is a resounding HELL YES, as this album has everything horror punk needs and makes it seem more elaborate. As cheesy as the song titles are, and the one too many uses of the word “Gruesome” (seven in total), this album is packed full of energy and charisma, and one certainly worth listening to.
RockRevolt Magazine gives this album 4 GRUESOME skulls!
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To get more information about SNOW WHITE’S POISON BITE, check out these links:
www.myspace.com/snowwhitespoisonbite
www.victoryrecords.com/merch/snowwhitespoisonbite
http://www.youtube.com/user/SWPBVEVO
