Release Date March 13th, 2025
Format CD/LP/Digital
Genre Melodic Punk Rock, Horror Punk
Country USA
Dark Ride comes straight out of the California underground, built from the ground up by Emilio Menze. This dude has put serious time into the trenches of the horror punk circuit, booking shows and keeping the scene alive. Before starting Dark Ride, he spent years touring the States and Europe, making serious noise with Stellar Corpses and fronting the infamous Misfits tribute act Plan 9. He functions as a connection between the darkest underground cellars and standard alternative music. Emilio brings a massive cinematic vision to his writing, stepping away from the standard three-chord punk template to mix things up with his own twisted ideas.
Now we get "Blade Manor", a twelve-song collection dropping through Fiend Force and Massacre Records. The music mixes fast-paced California punk rock with heavy doses of horror and fantasy storytelling. You get a serious dose of eighties and nineties pop culture references thrown into the blender alongside subtle metal riffing. The music keeps the energy high, dropping infectious choruses and dark humor across the entire tracklist. Emilio and his crew draw from classic slasher movies to construct the atmosphere for these anthems.
The delivery on "Blade Manor" hits an acceptable level of aggression, keeping the foot on the gas for a good chunk of the running time. Songs like "Coffin" and "Life At The End Of October" bring catchy vocal hooks and standard palm-muted power chords to the table. The issue arises with the variation across the tracklist. A few songs bleed into one another, making the middle section of the album drag slightly. It functions fine as background music for a Halloween party, providing decent riffs and sing-along sections. The metal influences surface occasionally to add a small diversion from the standard punk attack.
Randy Moore and Olav Tabatabai handled the production duties for this release. Olav took care of the mixing, and Zack Ohren stepped in for the mastering over at Castle Ultimate Productions. The audio quality comes through loud, keeping the guitars at the forefront and the vocals clearly decipherable. The drums drive the fast tempos forward. Dark Ride also brought in several guest musicians from the surrounding metal and punk scenes to add some extra flavor to the tracks. These guest spots provide a cool dynamic change when they show up.
"Blade Manor" delivers what you expect from a horror punk veteran. The album provides decent entertainment value, especially for diehard followers of Misfits and Alkaline Trio. It has killer moments mixed with some filler tracks, resulting in an average listening experience. Dark Ride delivers the spooky vibes and catchy hooks, keeping the underground scene fed with new material. Give it a spin if you want some straightforward monster-themed punk rock.
Score: 6.5
Add comment
Comments