THE GHOULSTARS – The Dark Overlords Of The Universe

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7.0

• Bands:
  THE GHOULSTARS
• Duration: 00:33:37
• Available from: 05/15/2026
• Label:

• Season Of Mist

Even though they have actually released only one noteworthy album – 2002's “The Valley Of The Murderdolls”, while the forgettable 2010 sequel “Women And Children Last” arrived after the deadline – the Murderdolls have the not inconsiderable merit of having brought mainstream attention back to B-Movie-filled punk horror, simultaneously launching the solo career of the former Frankenstein frontman Drag Queen From The Planet 13.

It is therefore welcome to see that a new “supergroup” arrives from Finland – a term to be taken with a pinch of salt in this case, given that the four musicians come from bands mostly known in underground circles of other genres, such as Kuolemanlaakso, Hooded Menace and Thermate – intent on retracing these raucous sounds, as foreshadowed by the prophetic title “The Dark Overlords Of The Universe” (quote from sculpt of the Eighties “Howard The Duck”) and the cover artwork.

Musically, in addition to the aforementioned Murderdolls and Wednesday 13, we move on simple but effective coordinates typical of groups like Misfits, White Zombie and Ramones, obviously filled with references to more or less legendary B-movies: a horror-punk-metal proposal quite distant from the death-doom and stoner coordinates of the main bands, but which works well in immediately catchy songs like “Too Ghoul For School”, “The Dead In Purgatory” (in which you can also hear a pinch of the old Volbeat) or “The Ballad Of The Cursed Bandits”, between references to the old Motley Crue and intriguing refrains worthy of the best Teenage Bottlerocket.

Sometimes the melodic impact is missing (“Zombie Apocalypse”, excluding the quotation from Romero's masterpiece, struggles to take off) and there are cases in which the musical part seems like a side dish to the phrases extrapolated from the film or vice versa (“The Brain That Wouldn't Die”, quotation from the film of the same name from the 1960s), but otherwise the dosage proves to be well blended, thanks also to some more specifically metal moments such as in the title track or the hilarious “Graverobbers From Outer Space”, inspired by “Plan 9 From Outer Space” by Ed Wood and made even more particular by the accompaniment of a güiro (raping musical instrument); an even heavier finale with “They Dance Upon Our Graves”, in which even some riffs reminiscent of the Swedish death of the past appear.

All things considered, The Ghoulstars' debut is a entertainment quite simple and direct – the authors themselves have defined it as an act of love for their own fifteen-year-olds – but which exudes passion and an ability to make even those who didn't grow up on the myth of Uncle Tibia (protagonist of the Italian “Horror Nights” towards the end of the Eighties) or sifting through the horror shelves of the most underground video stores.