Record of the Month
I was intending to get a rock album review up for October but, this month, most of my standout album release choices are in other music genres. It’s good to sometimes pause and explore to the left and the right a bit.
But there is a song that came through and it fired my imagination a little. Autumn Killers sent me an early copy of their new Halloween single ‘Death Trap.’ Love the band or not, one thing I always find refreshing with the Autumn Killers is you never quite know what you’re going to get when a new song comes through. This is important; in the last couple of years, on too many occasions I got rock albums or singles through and the songs were too often exactly what I thought they would be. This is possibly a result of marketing campaigns, giving fans what they want, giving radio what they want. It’s comfortable but it’s safe. Autumn Killers are the polar opposite to this; you can never second-guess what they will do next – and this helps keep music enjoyment alive. It’s important to be pushed beyond comfort zones and this bravery from artists actually inspires music fans to discover, to explore, to try new things. Like we used to do at record shops before algorithms arrived and put in front of us the streaming tracks we thought we had discovered ourselves.
Anyway, Death trap is a timely new track for Halloween. The howling monks (or maybe its matron and her biker friends) deliver a haunting choral base, there’s depth and menace in the music. Rob has a go at a bit of rap and there’s the big Killers choruses to bring the drama. From my recent interview with Dunc (available to listen to on the GMS homepage), it’s clear this rocker also has a deep passion for the synth and samples – his love for Depeche Mode, The Cure, Bauhaus, Sisters or Mercy and all tend to ensure rock influences are always balanced by goth infusions.
The new song is certainly dark and haunting – and played loud in the front room, it’s certainly strong enough to scare off the trick or treaters next week. And if the radio edit isn’t spooky enough for you, there’s five additional mixes of the song – including a broomstick-friendly Halloween mix. For those partial to putting the leg warmers on over Halloween weekend, there’s also a club mix. Oh what a feeling!
This song is about as far away from classic rock pastiche as you could get. Credit to the lads, they’re not playing safe to fit in with the rock scene – they are setting out on their own journey, they’re creating and exploring and not scared to give something new a go. Something we need to see more of.
But this is a single not an album. So why does it get an ‘album review?’ When I heard the song, it made me think of the so many surprise left-turn songs the band shared for my rock show, a few of which were done with the Friday listeners in mind. Mixed with a few album classics, these could all be put together on a playlist to make a wonderful Halloween party album: ‘The One And Only’ to get you in the party mood, while you’re putting your fancy dress outfit on before the Halloween Party, perhaps along with some dark intensity with ‘Black Heart.’
For Trick or Treating itself – going up and down your neighbourhood in the dark – ‘Cars’ and ‘Do You Want It’ will fire you up, whilst the band’s rendition of ‘Mad World’ brings a more sombre and haunting treatment to a classic.
If you end up at the wrong Halloween party – where everyone’s dancing rather than being dark and gothic – you can fire up that ever-so-naughty Flashdance cover and, of course, finish the evening on a high with the rave-tastic Darkside, which was deliciously confusing for a lot of rockers when it was first released.
On top of all that, you have the Pihka Is My Name collaboration to add something new and, as Halloween ends, you can turn attention to Christmas shopping with the band’s take on ‘The Power of Love.’
Most of these songs were passed by lot of mainstream rock media, but on the Friday rockshow many of the tracks became events, more than just songs. The band engaged with listeners every Friday and created surprise songs that lifted Friday nights for so many people. And this, after all, is what music should be all about: Having fun, being spontaneous and sharing special moments that will live long in the memory.
So, in a way, there is a Halloween album from Autumn Killers. The best party album that’s never been released by a rock band. Can you enjoy this album? Yes of course you can. Head to the Autumn Killers online and the streaming sites and create your own Halloween playlist album with these songs they recorded.
I have been fortunate to speak with Rob and Dunc frequently over the years. For too long they tried to do what they had to do to fit into a scene. Then the penny dropped and they got more enjoyment by being themselves, doing the music on their terms and going towards being different rather than being easy to like and similar to everyone else. Big respect to the band because it makes them interesting.
Happy Halloween everyone x
