THE HAXANS
Party Monsters
ANOTHER CENTURY
9/10
GOTH POP: Led by New Years Day vocalist Ash Costello and Matt Montgomery—aka Piggy D. (Rob Zombie, Wednesday 13)—The Haxans’ raucous debut delivers a sweat drenched blowout of titanic pop anthems pulsating with sleazy tempos and pile-driving industrial riffs. Bridging the gap between the moodiness of The Cure and the swagger of My Chemical Romance, Party Monsters sets the mood with opener “Lights Out!,” a guitar powered salvo of pure metallic pop that leads into the cartwheeling rock bluster of “Young Blood.” “Party Time” and “Witch Wave” showcase strong songwriting chops with a focus on big hooks and shout out choruses, while “Vampira,” a spectral acoustic ballad, highlights a confidence and maturity that elevates the material well beyond the formulaic sheep shit clogging up today’s Top 40. Wearing their influences like black velvet capes, Costello and Montgomery summon all of goth’s familiar tropes, from the spooky purr of the synths to images of black cats, spells, and death. Yet where The Cure and Depeche Mode anchored their stylings with bleak and introspective lyricism, Party Monsters rips open a portal into a joyfully hedonistic alternate reality. This is an addictive clutch of goth pop jams that will keep the party going long after the clock strikes midnight. ~ Joe Daly
