The Panic Beats, “Rest in Pieces” LP

cover - panic beats rest in piecesOf all the things I love about Rest In Pieces, the new LP from the Panic Beats, what I love most is the fact that at least four of the tracks take their names from classic slasher trash cinema. For the record, that’s “Silent Night, Deadly Night,” “I Drink Your Blood,” “God Forgives, I Don’t,” and “A Hatchet For the Honeymoon.”

Now, as I’ve not seen any of these movies (making me a wonderful scholar, but terrible fan, of horror), I can’t state as to the conjunction between film plot and lyrics on this new album. However, the lyrics are quite gory, as per usual: “Rest In Pieces” has “I’ll dissect meticulously/ all of you,” while album opener “Chop Chop” kicks off with “It’s time to sharpen my blade” before moving into talking about “fresh meat.”
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The Panic Beats, “Without Warning” LP

cover-panic-beats-without-warningTo chart the Panic Beats‘ output, you have three albums to follow. There’s the first, self-titled LP, with “Bound and Gagged” as the really outre song about killing and attacking by the hooded killer who appears on all the album covers and shirts from the band. There’s a split between slasher movie iconography and sci-fi creepiness (“You’re Gonna Mutate” and “Invasion”).

Then came …Strike Again a year later. “Rats” and “Red Alert” get the sci-fi imagery going, but there’s more of a focus on the whole horror movie aspect of everything. “Dirt Nap” and “Death List” are straighforward in terms of hunting and killing one’s victims, with “Coming to Get You” using the line “Bring an axe and fucking split you.”
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