This Town Called Purgatory

Headcheck RecordsBy AJ Phink

Rating: 4.5/5

Nottingham’s Headstone Horrors have just unleashed This Town Called Purgatory, the second volume of short sweet horror punk tunes that follows on from their debut full length, 2016’s Tales From The Murder House. Their album titles and the very name Headstone Horrors should be screaming at you that this is unashamedly and obviously horror punk that takes it cues from the likes of The Misfits, Horrorpops, The Spoolshow, The Creepshow and… well by now you have a good idea of where they are coming from, if you’re a denizen of the horror punk scene you can probably write your own much longer list.

In my experience there are two distinct strands of horror punk, there are bands that take the genre, give it a good shake and create something that could raise the dead, and those that just recreate and copy and bring nothing new to the party… not even a chainsaw, Headstone Horrors are firmly in the former category. The intro warns you to destroy the undead and then This Town Called Purgatory kicks into gear with a high octane wall of sound that is closer to horror punks roots than the rock ‘n roll influenced sound that many bands in the scene have adopted, although it does dip into briefly into a spaghetti western style on The Old Bone Orchard. Headstone Horrors lie somewhere between Tilt, Vice Squad and Danzig‘s reign in The Misfits.

If you ignore the horror trappings and take This Town Called Purgatory at face value this is a solid album of riotous punk rock, but you cannot and shouldn’t ignore these elements as this is what fuels the band, every track is delivered at full tilt with fist pumping choruses and woahs aplenty, all of which is lead by the stunning raw vocal delivery of front woman Natalie Thornton. This Town Called Purgatory was preceded by the Road To Purgatory EP, which in hindsight was a trailer for the latest full length, and it doesn’t disappoint on any level, if you’re a fan of horror punk you should already know Headstone Horrors, this also applies to anyone with a love for fast raw punk rock.

This Town Called Purgatory can be purchased on CD from Headcheck Records here

Headstone Horrors can be found Bandcamp, Facebook, Instagram and Spotify