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Five Horror Sites to Watch in 2010

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I’ve been making all sorts of new discoveries in 2009, and since a good number of the soundtracks and related material sold here at Turntabling are horror-related (as in, most of them) it’s about time I ran down a list of my favorites so you can join me in my current addictions.

HorrorSociety.com is the host of most of the Chicago horror events I run the Turntabling booth at; Mitch and Jessica Wells are the brains behind this along with several other Chicago horror fanatics and the job they do putting on the horror film festivals is fantastic. Great fun every single time and the website is quite good as well. I am a huge fan of Horror Society stuff. If you’re in Chicago and love horror, this is not just a meet-and-greet group that hangs out once every month or so, it’s a bona fide subculture in Chicago now–at least from where I sit.

Kitley’s Krypt is one of the fixtures on the horror front–running for ten years plus! The honest reviews, dedication to the movies and an utter refusal to “go commercial” make the Krypt an outstanding example of what a horror blog can be. Don’t delay, have a nice long read over at Kitley’s Krypt and be sure to drop by his booth at Flashback, HorrorHound Weekend and Cinema Wasteland (just to name a few) in 2010. Kitley is a fellow soundtrack lover and it’s good to see his reviews of the latest releases. Me, I’m more of an old-school soundtrack collector, going after the vinyl and etc. but Kitley does an excellent job with the reviews on the new material and yes, some old classics too.

Fatally-Yours.com is my latest discovery. I enjoy well-written and thoughtful reviews of genre movies, especially new horror. So many of the big name sites now seem a bit breathless for every horror movie that comes out regardless of whether it’s a tired old revamp of a once-profitable horror series or an indie splatterfest. The reviews at Fatally-Yours are just as critical and thought provoking as you want ’em to be. Very good reading.

Horror 101 With Dr. AC is an excellent read, but I must direct horror newcomers to the amazing reviews section first, as it’s jam packed with more information that you can possibly digest in a hundred sittings. In short, the horror fanatic’s dream. Absolutely fabulous stuff from a serious lover of all things horror and dedicated to sharing. And yes, this site is in connection with the book Horror 101, which is a great read.

Chateau GRRR is a site I’ve only just become acquainted with, but I like them for the same reason I like HorrorSociety.com–it encourages community building and there are plenty of interviews and reviews, lots to chew on. Very good stuff so far–I’m still exploring the site, but after meeting the person behind GRRR at the last Horror Society event, I’m happy to encourage people to join this horror community. Continue reading Five Horror Sites to Watch in 2010

WTF: Stryken First Strike

WTF bad album covers Stryken First Strike

Bad album covers? Jesus knows all about them. These poor, misguided born-again heavy metalers forgot to ask the lord for guidance when trying to sort out the artwork for this album cover. Because if they had, it’s almost a dead cert that God (or Satan, for that matter) would tell them NOT to put their own goofy faces on this OR risk being sued by Throbbing Gristle for stealing that band’s lightning logo.

These guys so desperately want this to be a photographic version of the Kiss Destroyer album cover that you can practically hear the conversations now. “NO! Shoot it AGAIN! It doesn’t look like DESTROYER, not even close. We KNOW they’re Kids In Service of Satan, but we REALLY want to be as cool as they are. Oh, please mister photographer, don’t make us look any more effeminate than we already do with the Freddie Mercury pouts and eye makeup.”
Continue reading WTF: Stryken First Strike

WTF: Bad Album Art Doublevision

Bad album covers seem even worse when they’re foisted on unsuspecting record buyers by people who market their music using only their first name. What possesses people to release songs under ONE NAME ONLY? No ideas here, but I can tell you the one-name LP is a recipe for disaster. Today we bring you not one, but TWO abominations for the price of one. Behold the horror that is…KEN and JOYCE.

bad album covers ken Continue reading WTF: Bad Album Art Doublevision

WTF: Riot Narita Album Cover

Riot bad album cover art Narita LPBeing the curator of a bad album cover collection has its downsides. There are the endless rejects–album covers that simply aren’t rotten ENOUGH to include in a gallery of truly craptacular designs.

You have to wade through a lot of mediocrity to find real gems of awfulness. But when you do finally spot a brain shatteringly bad album cover, there’s a part of your soul that leaps for joy. And there was some handsprings going on today with the discovery of Riot’s Narita LP, truly one of the most deliciously shitty things we’ve found in a long time.

Beavis and Butthead once made fun of a Edie Brickell video, Butthead muttering,  “She’s pinching a loaf!” as Brickell crouched on the ground to sing. That’s exactly what echoes through the mind when gazing upon this miserable pimento loaf of an album cover. It looks like this mutant wrestler/mammal thing is crapping out skeletons as its being buzzed by an 80s era cargo plane. Continue reading WTF: Riot Narita Album Cover