NEW REVIEWS FOR END OF THE BEGINNING 2008
Friday, December 19, 2008 Lugosi's Moprhine- The End of the Beginning Review
by Hell Feels Like Home [Horror & Dark Music Reviews]
This album is a total riot that is full of wit, humor, and great goth drenched revved up Death Rock 'n Roll. Vocalist D.F. Lazarus has a deliciously dark mid range voice that shimmers and shines with attitude and mischief. The guitar duo of Anastasia and Slug have tight high octane punk rhythms with warm creepy distortion. Marquis De' Blood's bass and Herb's drums lay down a solid pounding punk rock foundation. “The Year Without Halloween” is amusing look at feeling to blue on Halloween to go out and egg or toilet paper houses. Musically this song is a frantic stomp with driving drums and dark hard guitars. The vocals are tongue and cheek sarcasm. Very cool break that slows the song down before breaking into a cool fuzzed out solo. “I Like it Spooky” starts off with some disgruntled talk about all the work that goes into being dark and all people can say is that it's spooky. Right before the song kicks in there is a super sultry female response of “I like it Spooky.” Extremely catchy fast paced song with clever lyrics. The backing “ohhhs” behind the main vocals are just beautiful. The chorus has a huge sing along hook perfect for blasting on your car stereo while driving through town in your hearse (or while riding in the back of one). “Bucket of Blood” starts off with some wild rock n' roll lead guitar and moves into a melodic punk rocker. Lyrically this is about a bar of the same name that serves eerie favorites such as “a shot of Jim Scream” or for you lightweights the non-bloodaholic “O'Ghouls.” The Narcoleptic Necrophiliac” brought a most hilarious image to my mind that I never would have thought of: A guy falling asleep on top of a corpse while in the throes of passion. Even funnier is the idea that if you work at the cemetery before you throw any loose bodies you find scattered about into their grave, make sure they aren't just sleeping! “Graves” starts off with a lone crunchy punk guitar. The vocals bring in the melody line and speak of trying to get a job in the death business. Can you think of a better way to make a buck and fulfill some of your morbid curiosity? Stick during the silence that follows “Graves” and you will be rewarded with an eerie cover of Eva O's “Children of the Light” with a lovely unnerving vocal by guitarist Anastasia. The End of the Beginning is a lot of fun and ranks among the coolest new things I have heard in 2008. This album is the perfect audio companion for when you dark humored b-movies freaks can't pop a dvd into watch (driving, eyes poked out, zombie took a bite out of the part of your brain that knew how to work the remote). Lugosi's Morphine are a blast so grab your shovel and go dig some graves with them already! Or at least buy the album, you won't be disappointed.
June 12, 2008 Lugosi’s Morphine - The End Of The Beginning Review!
Lugosi's Morphine – The End Of The Beginning Pennsylvania's Horrorpunkin'/Deathrockin' ghouls, Lugosi's Morphine are back with their third release ironically, entitled The End Of The Beginning. The irony of the title is descriptive of my own life, so don't read too far into it. What to say about this band that I haven't said over the past few years?! LM hasn't changed their method one bit since their last EP, "5 Shots To The Head". The band has grown stronger, honing their craft to the point where they sound ten times better than the bulk of today's major Punk acts. Don't believe me, take a peek at The End Of The Beginning! The album is crammed with thirteen "go for the jugular" tunes that completely rock my face off! At times I don't know whether I wanna slam dance or go on a fucking killing spree. No fluff here, LM has touched that certain nerve in me with this album that's rarely ever stroked or prodded. "I Like It Spooky" is the first track that gets my "goat" and the thrill ride doesn't end for me until the last song, "Graves". In between these tracks the band wages a sonic onslaught of Horror, Camp, Blood and PUNK! "Psycho Mammoth Stomp", "Bucket Of Blood" and "Miserable Breakfast" are prime examples of just how vicious "The End Of The Beginning" is, can and will be... D.F. Lazurus's vokill work is fabulous, you can feel his conviction and passion rising as the disc plays on. Although he doesn't sound like Jello Biafra in the least, he's as convincing as good ole Jello. This says a lot this day and age with all the poseurs and fakes we having running wild in the music business. Musically, LM has never sounded better, the rhythm section is tight as hell and the riffage is outlandish. The End Of The Beginning is definitely Lugosi's Morphine best work to date and get this, they aren't signed to a label?!! This band is a walking, talking and rocking example of just how ignorant the music industry has become. Horror or not, the band deserves to get their due and eventually I think it'll happen. If it doesn't, you can at least say you've been rocked by a real band with evil intent if you pick up the new disc! Check the myspace page below and get your ass handed to you. http://www.myspace.com/lugosismorphine
Written By: Black Angel
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6/12/2008
LUGOSI'S MORPHINE - The End Of The Beginning
THE GOOD: Those twisted kids are at it again, making everyday Halloween in dreary old Northeast PA!
THE BAD: If you're looking for some "serious innovative music," this ain't the place! This band is all about the theatrical - things that go bump in the night, picking up where Alice Cooper and The Cramps left off, bloody Herschell Gordon Lewis high camp. Is that bad? Hardly. THE NITTY GRITTY: LM continues to crank out its own unique combination of punk, thrash, and surf. Instead of bitching about authority figures or world politics though, these guys (along with the always alluring and unnerving Anastasia) tend to fixate on graves, gore, and all things ghastly! "Dig Dig Dig" takes us back to the Twilight Zone. "More Brains" is an epic tribute to Return of the Living Dead, complete with ravaged guitars and cinematic sound bites (writer/director Dan O'Bannon would be pleased). "Evil Urge" makes the psycho down deep in all of us chuckle. BUY IT?: Absolutely! Lugosi's Morphine may not be the best band in town, but it's certainly the most entertaining - in a gross appalling creep-you-out kind of way. Reviewed By Mike Evans from The Electric City weekly entertainment paper. Scranton, Pa. USA
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June 2007
2 Reviews Translated by Giorgio Moltisanti from Ritual Magazune ( ITALY )
My Best NEVER SEEN GIG @ Drop Dead 2006
In the old days, in Europe, being a goth was a pretty duff leisure opinion. You had to hang around in parks dinking snakebite and blacl and looking glum. While the only bands you where allowed to listen to were called things like Fields Of The Nephilim or Sisters Of Mercy. How things've changed. Now nu goths drink each other's bood and still get home in time for Jackass or Family Guy! meanwhile they (re)discovered bands like Alien Sex Fileds, Misfits or Anti World and TSOL. Instead of being all dour and gloomy, nu goth is spiky, bloody, trashy, funny and glam. The Lugosi's Morphine (PA) are doing an excellent job of becoming the genre's new underground icon for many people. There dark atmosphere everywhere and they're all waering bloody or black lipstick, white greasepaint, leather and skulls but they jump up and down while singer DF Lazarus sings about grave robbing, quote killing stars movie and act to slitting his wrist. It's fun in the same way that we all torturing spiders during our youth or scaring your little brothers listening to Christian Death or Bauhaus's Bela Lugosi's Dead, precisely. by pretending to be dead is fun. The Lugosi's Morphine guitarist, Anastasia, and bass player, Marquis, help to the best the band and looks the audience like "motherf---r I don't care!", something like I hate everyone and I'll kill the world. But joking obviously. Excellent! (Giorgio Moltisanti) ------------------
LUGOSI's MORPHINE 'With A Demoral Chaser'
Monty Python themselves would have approved of the batty state of batcave and horror punk in 2005. Jangly northern indie conquers the charts by word-of-mouth alone, while over on Planet Plastic, All Gone Dead and Tragic Black are about to score their squillionth numbers one with a song grafted from five separates songettes, none of which is identifiable. Meanwhile, off in some town of Pensylvania, a band called Lugosi's Morphine have become the most talked-about newbies in our magazine by, basically, immagining what would have happen if Misfits had been a nu goth band created by Penis Flytrap and approvated by Dinah Cancer and Dee Ramone. And then setting it to music. A shotgun of 13 sonic horror/punk/batcave anthems. Fueled by spastic rhythms, dark themes and antagonistic guitars, the creepiest element of Morphine' music, however, is the often-hallucinogenic effect from Lazarus's double trouble: Anastasia on guitar and DF on vocals. Songs such as punk rock Outta My Head and the bombastic We Die Young have disorienting and deviated effect to the music. If you're a fan of the darker stuff from '70s Nuggets-era garage rock, or the subversive post-punk of bands such as Joy Division's Warsaw and (early) The Cramps, or even the early Goth and glam rock of Bauhaus, then this creepy platter should be right up your alley. (Giorgio Moltisanti)
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Mick Mercer Review March 10 , 2007
LUGOSI’S MORPHINE WITH A DEMORAL CHASER LP / 5 SHOTS TO THE HEAD EP Creepy Rat Records like this are entertaining because they’re so full of life, as punkier bands don’t hold back. Coming to their sound with their second album being worked on, you can also look back on these records with more awareness of what’s happening as you see their direction form or change. If I’d run into the ‘With A Demoral Chaser’ debut when it was released in 2004 I’d have been won over without being wowed in any way. The sound is quite a jumbled punk psychobilly mixture, from which Horror Rock/Punk naturally comes, and ‘Surf Scum’ is about as traditional as it gets after the Lugosi ‘children of the night’ sample, being an instrumental with scrawny surf guitar and rockabilly drums. These (e)lope together somewhat frumpily as it all crashes to an untimely demise, then the punkier rush of ‘Psychotic Beach’ lumbers around, with sticky gear shifts on time changes. ‘Igor’s Eyeball’ is a zombiefied update of ‘Gary Gilmore’s Eyes’ in many ways, apart from some pant-wetting guitar soloing. Clompier drums and bow-legged riffing makes ‘3 Days Dead’ a cool stomp as the guitars narrow their attack focus, over a throbby rhythm and with cutely brazen, gross lyrics it charges off wonderfully well. ‘The Ugly’ sees the vocals perk up and the words fly like grappling hooks, totally owning the jolly, crude chorus. ‘Outta My Head’ sees the guitar scamper around the drums but it can do little to disguise the vacuous nature of the lyrics. ‘We Die Young’ has female vocals taking over, with acoustic included and a slower feel, altogether more involved and overwrought. Apparently ‘The Devil Bat’ is a low down dirty rat, so do we wanna know him? It’s some frothy r’n’r with teeming guitar excitement over a stocky beat and when ‘Mommy’s Head’ starts with a bowling ball hitting tenpins you are entitled to anticipate great things. Off it rants like melodic hardcore in need of a choppier feel. ‘Full Moon Fever’ is overheated, but full and solidly moving. ‘Nothing For You’ is another interesting female punky rant with some wandering guitar, ‘Bad Dreams’ is a evil bastard, with smaller, tighter guitar activity, pushy, clattery drums and a surging vocal wildness, then ‘Go Hugo Go’ ends it all with chanted vocals and clear drum direction in whose slipstream you mindlessly sing along. An occasionally crass, often muddy record, in terms of ideas and sound, it’s also got a string of good points, and plenty of character to show. On the 2006 release of the ‘5 Shots To The Head’ EP they thoughtfully fill the spaces with some old live tracks, making this quite a weighty experience too. ‘Bermuda’ sounds like a weedy mess, with the lyrics having little purpose or idea, so it flounders horribly, but the female-led ‘Night Of The Vampire’ with measured drums and slicker guitar is good. The thrashy punk ‘Life’s No Fun’ is a simple life sucks tale (“life’s no fun, at 21, my world’s a new shade of grey, apathy is my middle name, I’ll get a job some day”) and its dopey charm wins through easily. ‘Leave Something Witchy’ is thicker sounding and I confess I have never heard that phrase before. (Apparently it means to make your mark, is that right?) An urgent chorus leaps from the song that really bowls along. ‘Creepy Crawly’ is very Action Pact, but the lyrics simply aren’t good enough because any audience knows that a band like this is experienced enough to have moved beyond such a basic set of words. Captured Live on 27th March 1004 the bonus songs are noisy and direct, with a tough rhythm section and sharp vocal sound. ‘The Ugly’ is particularly strong, ‘Igor’s Eyeball’ bathed in fury. ‘3 Days Dead’ has a grim tension that holds back a song designed to leap and plunge. ‘Outta My Head’ coasts by on the superb drums, ‘Psychotic Beach’ turns itself inside out, angrily, with some lusty guitar beneath the constipated singing, then ‘Mommy’s Head’ sees us off in rancid fashion and you know you’d love them live. The other discs I received included a double-video dvd which wouldn’t play on my machine, and a demo CD of two new songs from 2007. ‘Bucket Of Blood’ lurches about with mild, squealing guitar and funny lyrics blurted out on a light-hearted punk breeze, which is clearly more relaxed and assured than their previous material, as is the burly punk sound of the strange and imaginative ‘The Year Without A Halloween.’ “I got a mountain of eggs and toilet paper, but I’m just not in the mood,” could so easily be misinterpreted but it’s a great sign that the band have found their place and a status far more worthy than their press release’s humble claim to be ‘Scranton. PA’s Premiere Horror Punk Band.’ It’ll take them a while to get up to Calabrese’s level, but they’ve got the impetus going and just need to keep sharpening their ability. The second album should be hot. http://www.lugosismorphine.net http://www.myspace.com/lugosismorphine http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QxARjeoOMBI
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DEC 2006 Review of the "5 Shots To The Head E.P." 2006 from Black Angel Promotions
Pennsylvania's Horrorpunkers, Lugosi's Morphine have finally returned with a new effort - an EP entitled, 5 Shots To The Head. It seems like it was ages ago that I was devouring the band's first effort, With A Demoral Chaser. Shortly after the release, the band became relatively quiet for awhile due to loss of band mates and such, but they're now back and in full force! 5 Shots To The Head features five brand new tracks or well three new tunes and two covers as well as live performances that has the band ripping through a few classics. The best of the bunch would have to be "Igor's Eyeball", "3 Days Dead" and "Ugly". The sound quality isn't the best, but I don't care who you are, most live cuts don't sound that great, it's about the moment and the feeling the band captures in the live setting and LM are down right ferocious in the live scene. Getting back to the newer tracks, specifically the covers - LM chooses to reanimate two very old tunes from Roky Erickson's repertoire: "Bermuda" and "Night Of The Vampire". In my opinion, the band gives these songs much more life than Roky ever did, now don't get me wrong, I love Erikson as much as the next person, but the music is dated while LM's versions aren't. The band does an arousing job on "Night Of The Vampire"; it's heavy as hell and evil as shit. Rhythm guitarist, Anastasia takes over lead vocals here and it's spookier than ever! The brand new track on "5 Shots" are "Life's No Fun", "Leave Something Witchy" and "Creepy Crawly". I'm not certain which of the songs I like best at this point, but each of them have their own life and attitude. "Life's No Fun" is Punk Rock at its best - faster than lightning, adolescence redefined and brutal. The same can be said of "Creepy Crawly", with the only difference being the lyrical content. "Leave Something Witchy" has finally found its niche with me on this EP, the first time I'd heard it was on the WHN comp and I couldn't get into it. Now that a little time has passed, I find the song to be amazing, well written and a howling good time. D.F. Lazarus's vocals are also pretty damned intense on this track. Overall, the recording of this disc is pretty lo-fi but it's to be expected in the Horror scene, besides, the band has proven themselves to have a strong work ethic and a sincere knack for writing catchy tunes about horrible things. If you're into Horrorpunk, you might wanna check this disc out and soon, it's a very limited EP as there are only 300 being printed! Get on it, so you don't miss out anything.
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July 2006 Reveiw of "5 Shots To The Head E.P". by Mike Evens printed in the Electric City Newspaper July 13th issue.
LUGOSI'S MORPHINE - 5 Shots to the Head (EP) THE GOOD: Our hometown ghouls are up to their old tricks again - terrorizing the neighborhood, bringing down property values, and giving us an ugly mix of punk, thrash, and surf. THE BAD: Look, you don't go to see a Friday the 13th movie to check out an Oscar contender - you go to see Jason hack into a bunch of sex-crazed teenagers. The same holds true for Lugosi's Morphine. This isn't "great music." This is riotous punk played with fury and a sick sense of humor. (Hmm ... that's not BAD after all.) THE NITTY GRITTY: D.F. Lazarus and his creepy crew are getting tighter. The five studio cuts on this disc (two Roky Erickson covers and three originals) crackle with a new sense of wild abandon. Guitarist Anastasia takes the lead vocal on "Night of the Vampire," purring all the way as she leads us further into the darkness. And on "Life's No Fun," Lazarus's voice comes eerily close to Cramps frontman Lux Interior. BUY IT?: Sure! What the hell! Besides, 5 Shots is limited to 300 copies (actually 299 because they sent me one). So if these pukes ever become famous, the eBay possibilities are endless.
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You can check out an interview w/ LM @ Midnight Calling Online-Zine 2005.
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Reviewed by Black Angel of Black Angel Promotions
Jan - 05' Lugosi's Morphine is a relatively young Horror Punk band from Scranton, Pennsylvania. LM has been together for a little over a year and already has captured the hearts of many horror junkies! Not only has the band played with the likes of Penis Flytrap, CK5 and Tombstone Brawlers, LM was invited to perform at the legendary Drop Dead Fest in NYC. This fest saw people from all walks of life who gathered together to celebrate their love for music and horror. Today we are here to rejoice the releasing of Lugosi's Morphine's first music offering, entitled "With A Demoral Chaser". A shotgun blast of 13 supersonic Horror/Punk anthems. To follow are a few of my highlights. "Igor's Eyeball" is a tune about lookin' at the world thru the eyes of one of most misunderstood beings to ever walk... Igor! The song is an explosion of chaotic guitar riffing, neck break drumming and gut wrenching vocals. "Outta My Head" has some of the sickest Punk Rock music and vokills I've heard in awhile. "We Die Young" is my favorite tune from "Demoral Chaser". It's a Death Rock ballad that sounds like it came straight from the Bible of the ever immortal Dinah Cancer. The song has a distinct Gothic style and feel, featuring Rhythm guitarist, Anastasia, on Lead vokills and D.F. Lazarus (Lead vokillist) doing some hellacious backup vokills. "Nothing For You" is another great tune also sang by Anastasia. What can I say, the woman sings as good as she plays! "Full Moon Fever" is as rough and tough as it gets. Lycanthropy, hairiness, nashing of teeth and ripping of flesh!!! In no time Lugosi's Morphine's "With A Demoral Chaser" will have you out in the cemetery diggin' up cadavers to feed your carnivorous hunger for necrophilia, rotting flesh and human bones.
Review by Jack S. (LiarSociety) January 10, 2005 Lugosi's Morphine: With a Demoral Chaser Is Lugosi's Morphine the missing link between Samhain and 45 Grave? I'm inclined to think so. Like the prior band, Lugosi's Morphine falls on the thrashier side of deathrock, yet like the latter group they temper their horror-punk with an (un)healthy does of gallows humor. Songs like "The Ugly" and "The Devil Bat" manage to be both vicious and humorous, but even when the pace is slowed on tracks like the semi-acoustic "We Die Young" the album still retains its bite. Though a bit raw, I can't imagine that With a Demoral Chaser should be otherwise; it's good to see a band like Lugosi's Morphine carrying the old-school torch.
Reviewed by Mike Evens of Rock 107 8-19-04 - MIKE EVANS is WEZX Rock 107's on-air personality and an avid music collector. Send e-mail to mevans@rock107.com or click here to go to the Electric City website.. LUGOSI'S MORPHINE - With A Demoral Chaser THE GOOD: A decadent band of local freaks kicks out a night of sinister fun ñ what could be better? THE BAD: There is no bad - only wretched wickedness.
THE NITTY GRITTY: Rising from the ashes of 3 Days Dead, vocalist D.F. Lazarus and lead guitarist Slug are back with a new demented crew hell bent on offering you a poisonous mixture of thrash, goth and surf. With A Demoral Chaser is the dark debut from Lugosi's Morphine and the album is one half B-horror film, one half black comedy. Drink in tracks like "Igor's Eyeball" and "The Ugly" and you'll immediately flash back to mid-period Damned, the Misfits and classic Cramps. And when rhythm guitarist Anastasia joins Lazarus for the not-so-romantic duet "We Die Young," you can't help but think of vintage X. This is the stuff that makes up your worst nightmares - and best Halloween bashes. Oh ... and be sure to stick around for "Go Hugo Go" - a riotous rocker dedicated to notorious local bad guy Hugo Selenski. Ah, you can't beat tackiness. BUY IT?: You better, or these ghouls may actually move into your neighborhood and terrorize your children. Get your fix at www.lugosismorphine.net .
Reviewed by Sean Organ 5/04 Organ Magazine LUGOSI’S MORPHINE – now this is a totally different bag of punk rock (broken) bones and equally as good as the Spacejunk earfood we just loved so so so so much….. the demo pile is treating us royally again – good things come to those who don’t give up. Lugosi’s Morphine are from Scranton PA (somewhere in the UsofA) and we’re talking completely and utterly in your face zombie-scum surfed-up old-school punk rock – ah yes, this is righteous stuff. Let us put on our lazy hat and hit you with a short cut of a list – we’re talking a great big bondage and golden wine orgy of a GG Allin, Misfits, 45 Grave, Anti Nowhere league and Motorhead, we’re talking edgy psychotic whiplashed thrashing punk rock, we’re talking sin dripping from their black black bat wings – yes indeed bothers and sisters, he’s a goddamn dirty rat that devil bat. And hey this is deliciously raw and deliciously wired and right in there with no messing around – just how real punk rock should be. The recording is perfect, its raw, its filth, it goes out of tune, it bumps into you then rebounds off the wall over there and comes flying right back at your head twice as deadly with those old school chugga chugga riffs and chorus chants and songs about graveyards and bad dreams and your mother being a junky and a whore and……...yeah! There goes a TSOL song and there goes another swearathon chant along and another psychotic misfit riff and more wholesome proper (offensive) punk rock - this is like stomping at the Klub Foot (ain’t London gone down hill since they pulled down the Clarendon), These beautiful Morphine people have definitely seen the devil in the flesh, they’ve seen it all through Igor’s eyeballs and they’re clearly three days dead and still kicking away at your peeling flesh…No one trick pony though, they’ve got different angles here, the girl boy duet of We Die Young, the complete infectious psychobilly thing that is The Devil Bat… yeap surf zombie gothed up punk rock, we love it, you’ll love….. we're calling this one in straight away….. I think we should release a single DON’T YOU? www.lugosismorphine.com
If you are from a magazine or TV network and want to review our new cd please e-mail us! ThanXXX
