Usually when a band is forced to replace some of its more prominent members, it’s a setback that hinders recording, performing and overall creativity. But Doctor Frankenstein himself couldn’t have reassembled a rock ‘n’ roll monster as quickly and powerfully as The Casket Creatures have. With She Screams, vocalist Eddie Cadaver, guitarist Derek Obscura and bassist Cliff Damage have concocted a collection of seven songs that retain the horror punk aesthetic The Casket Creatures have become known for while adding an extra jolt of energy to electrify even more then before.
She Screams begins, appropriately enough, with the sounds of a woman screaming as the band takes a more hardcore metal approach on “GKMF” (which stands for “get killed, mother fucker,” in case you were wondering). The Casket Creatures then take the listener through a fast-paced sci fi storytelling session with the hopeless haunted house tale “Haunted,” the rotten romance of “Graveyard Girl” and the apocalyptic horror of “The Final Night”. Then you come to what I consider to be the main event of She Screams, “Planet Wolftron” and “Zombie Werewolves From Outer Space,” a spooky song about extraterrestrial wolfmen who crash land on Earth only to become reanimated and go on a rampage. The EP concludes with the title track, a somewhat surprising ballad-like number reminiscent of something from The Rocky Horror Picture Show with it’s deadly love story and melodic instrumentation.
To say The Casket Creatures have matured with She Screams would imply that these guys have grown up. But that’s not really what we want from a band that sings about alien invasions, zombie outbreaks and other supernatural salaciousness. But you can definitely hear an improvement in the musicianship here, and the lyrics maintain a wittiness that can only come from equal doses of brains, blood and fun.
The Casket Creatures celebrate the release of She Screams at Wrestling with Pop Culture’s third anniversary party with Monstrosity Championship Wrestling at Club Famous on March 14.