Tag Diving: Halloween
I was born on the night of Samhain, when the barrier between the worlds is whisper-thin and when magic, old magic, sings its heady and sweet song to anyone who cares to hear it.
Spooky salutations, stinkers, and welcome back to Tag Diving! It’s the weekly column where I, the the easily enticed Reliquary Tower, shovel through the sonic scraps of Bandcamp in search of solid songs, much like how one might dig through a dumpster in search of a new speedo for the upcoming swim season (only lightly sharted!), and on this, our final week of October-themed topics, we’re hearing some Halloweeny howlings.
Vanik – Entrails and Thrills
It wouldn’t have been my first instinct, but once I thought about it, I decided that heavy/speed metal really feels right for Halloween. Entrails and Thrills is exactly that in the first half, whereas the second is all dark ambient/Halloween sound effects. It reminds me of those Halloween sounds tapes that I had as a kid. From the two Vanik albums I’ve listened to, it’s a pretty enjoyable retro-y throwback project, and so far I’ve yet to hear anything I haven’t enjoyed.
Billy Cobb – Halloween V
This is an odd one. It’s mostly a folk rock EP, but it’s got a little bit of metal in it as a treat. Honestly I didn’t think too much of it at first, but this track got stuck in my head. It’s definitely a passion project, and once you realize that it’s just going to be a little bit different, it’s a lot of fun!
Witched – S/T
We’ve got some shoegazey surf rock for this one! The lyrics are nice and eerie and there’s plenty of atmosphere to go around. I really liked this album and seriously hope we see more from the project at some point. The Bandcamp page mentions that it’s a solo project, so I’ll probably do some digging and see if there’s more to hear!
And that’s all for today! A bit of an odd one this week, but I don’t mind. At least it’s a break from the goregrind we’ve gotten so much of lately, though I have a sneaking suspicion it’ll be back next week as we tackle demos. Happy Halloween, Toileteers!
