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The Casket Creatures get “Deranged” with latest horror rock release

It’s been a crazy time for The Casket Creatures in the three years it has taken them to finish their third full-length album Deranged. With guitarist Derek Obscura now moonlighting as a member of Davey Suicide‘s band, vocalist (and Wrestling with Pop Culture contributor) Ryan Cadaver, bassist Cliff Damage and Obscura remain the core Creatures, with a rotating cast of drummers keeping the beat. Just as the She Screams EP showed a monstrously more accomplished band than we’d previously heard, Deranged displays the Creatures’ diversity within the horror rock genre.

While the blood-spattered cover photography by Kevin Mayfield (who fills in on guitar in Obscura’s absence) is reminiscent of American Psycho, there is no direct reference to this movie on the album (though the title track does tell at tale of a proud Patrick Bateman-like misanthrope). Instead, we get metal songs like “Springwood Slasher,” clearly inspired by A Nightmare on Elm Street, and the more melodic punk of “Just Like Tucker and Dale,” based on the comedy horror film Tucker & Dale vs. Evil. Other songs, such as “Blood Junkies,” “Raise the Dead” and “The Man Who Cheated Death,” could very well be about some obscure vampire, zombie and slasher films. They’re more likely, however, the result of the band’s general obsession with scary movies and punk rock.

Stylistically, the band remains firmly entrenched in the horror rock coffin while incorporating a deadly mix of pop punk, heavy metal and a touch of rockabilly. The opening staccato of “Devils Trap” is reminiscent of Green Day’s “Brain Stew” while Cadaver channels Megadeth’s Dave Mustaine on “Death Comes For You”. Then there’s the ’50s doo-wop of “Gore on the Dancefloor 2,” the crooning sequel to the more aggressive song from the band’s 2011 debut Tales from the Unknown, which, despite being a departure, fits right in with the rest of Deranged.

Like many horror rock acts before them, there’s always a comedic element to The Casket Creatures that keeps their morbid topics fun. “Planet Wolftron” and “Zombie Werewolves From Outer Space” were the sillier standouts from She Screams and have become fan favorites. The Deranged bonus track “VIG” is poised to become the band’s next crowd pleaser, with it’s satirical look at very important ghosts looking to live it up on the opposite side of the velvet rope in the afterlife.

Deranged offers a little bit of everything fans have come to love about The Casket Creatures, with a few new surprises, all in a cohesive collection of new singalongs. As has been the case with each previous release, the band continues to grow with each new album. That’s not to say the band has matured, though. These guys need to maintain their immaturity in order to keep cranking out music like this.

The Casket Creatures make horror rock fans scream with delight on “She Screams”

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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.

MCW presents the Great American Monster Mash with The Casket Creatures CD release

The Casket Creatures bring horror rock to Monstrosity Championship Wrestling

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Over the past year, The Casket Creatures have emerged from their crypts with a unique brand of horror-inspired rock ‘n’ roll. Clearly influenced by horror punk acts like the Misfits, Blitzkid and Calabrese, as well as hard rock and heavy metal bands like Mötley Crüe, Alice Cooper and Iron Maiden, The Casket Creatures breathe new life into the horror rock genre with a look and sound that is both fiendishly familiar and rottenly refreshing. Having released its debut album Tales from the Unknown a year ago, the band has rapidly gained a strong following by opening for the likes of Wednesday 13, Static-X and former Misfits singer Michale Graves, and performing at events such as Six Flags over Georgia‘s Fright Fest, the Little 5 Points Halloween Festival & Parade and the Rock ‘n’ Roll Monster Bash, where the Creatures were also introduced to Monstrosity Championship Wrestling. Before the band returns to its tomb to focus on an early 2013 release for its second album Sex, Blood and Rock ‘n’ Roll, it plays what is likely to be its final show of the year as Wrestling with Pop Culture presents Monstrosity Championship Wrestling with The Casket Creatures! Vicious vocalist Eddie Cadaver and grim guitarist Derek Obscura talk about all the ghouls they’ve rocked before, performing with monster wrestling and other atrocities.

First, I’d like to thank you for playing this event with Monstrosity Championship Wrestling. With all the national acts you’ve opened for and the big events you’ve been part of, I was glad you guys were willing to be part of this event as such a successful year comes to a close for you.

Cadaver: We had a really good time at the Monster Bash with Monstrosity Championship Wrestling, so we’re really excited about this one.

Obscura: It’s been a really crazy year, especially during the summer and October. The Little 5 Points Halloween Festival was pretty crazy. It’s been an awesome year.

Cadaver:It all started when we got booked at the Monster Bash. It seems like after that, we cannot keep our schedule clear. It’s constantly full. It’s been really cool and we’re having a good time.

Of all these big shows you’ve played over the past few months, which ones would you say got the best crowd response to what you guys do?

Obscura: I think we got our biggest reaction at the Little 5 Points Halloween Festival. It got insane when we played. It was so cool.

Cadaver: The Six Flags show was really cool for a totally different reason. With the Six Flags crowd it was mostly kids, so we played a family-friendly set. But it was actually really bad ass and we had a lot of fun. After we got done playing, we’d pose for pictures with the kids and sign autographs. It was cool as hell. We played three full-length sets throughout the night and they were all completely different. I got to feel like Bruce Dickinson popping out of side doors and running across the stage with a wireless mic. I loved it. Those two shows were our biggest, but for totally different reasons.

What was it like opening for bigger acts like Wednesday 13, Davey Suicide and Static-X?

Obscura: We were a perfect fit with Wednesday and his crowd embraced us right away. The Static-X show as a little tougher crowd, but by the end of our set we had them cheering for us. One of the coolest ones was the Ghouls Night Out Festival up in Jersey where we played with Mister Monster and Blitzkid for their last U.S. show. That was a super cool experience and the place was sold out. We had an awesome time up there.

Cadaver: We also played with Michale Graves and that was a super cool show. He and his crew were really good guys and were really supportive of what we were doing. We made a lot of new fans that night because it was just the perfect fit. I’d say Michale Graves, the Wednesday show and Ghouls Night Out were where we made a lot of new fans and headway in our genre. It was really cool. Static-X was a little different because the crowd was, like, mean mugging us when we started. But I just got in their faces and did my thing, all of us rocked it out and by the end of it everybody was getting into it. I enjoyed all those shows.

When you last saw MCW at the Monster Bash, you had several other bands and various other activities going on. Tomorrow night’s show will just be The Casket Creatures and MCW. What are your expectations going into this event?

Obscura: We’re stoked that we got the chance to play this and it’s really cool that we’re the only band playing. The Kentucky Wolfman is already my favorite wrestler just with the name.

Cadaver: We’re super excited to see the Kentucky Wolfman. We have an older song called “Bark of the Beast” that’s about werewolves an we’re going to play that one for the Kentucky Wolfman. If he wants us to play it as his entrance music, we’ll be happy to!