VARIOUS ARTISTS • The Rot N' Roll Horror Comp From Hell • (2006 T-Boner)
Gery Vermin rates it:

VARIOUS ARTISTS
The Rot N’ Roll Horror Comp From Hell
(T-Boner)
Oh, the pain... I sympathize, Mr. Boner, I really do.
For those of youse unfamiliar with the infamous T-Boner, his website HorrorBands.com or his numerous daily rants on Blabbermouth.net, he is an exceptionally unhinged individual with a preoccupation of W. Axl Rose that borders on certifiable, a master of bad puns and a devotee to all things glammy and horrific. So now you know...

Having assembled three compilations of this sort myself, I know the migraines and mini-triumphs involved with trying to get everything to fall into place. The bands you REALLY want are either unattainable, uninterested or unavailable due to pending contractual obligations and the bands you’ve reserved as filler won’t quit calling you. Granted, I can only speak from personal experience/misery, however, from the sound of much of THE ROT N’ ROLL HORROR COMP..., I can say that - now that it’s over and done - T-Boner is very likely ready for the same psych ward I was.

In spite of the extremely varied caliber of it’s participants, TRNRHCFH has one thing over it’s many peers in the Various Horror Artists category: rather than each band doing their best to sound like the Misfits, most sound as if they’re auditioning to open for a ‘round the block with Enuff Z’Nuff instead.

Bookended by quips from Tennessee horror host Dr. Gangrene, ROT N’ ROLL features 24 tracks by 22 bands, each taking their own unique (and occasionally clueless) slant on combining horror and harmonics. Unlike many of these sort of collections that start off with a bang, sag in the center and scramble like hell to redeem itself on the last two tracks, the high point of T-Boner’s assemblage comes in its middle and features track after track of tolerable, and often enjoyable terror. Starting with the good (and my own poisonal tastes - what a coincidence!), my loudest rounds of clappery go to “Night Of Terror” by Indiana’s Dirty Dead, the miserably produced but promising “Monsters Among Men” from Full Moon Renegades and the provolonic, but enjoyable warble of Dr. Daniel & The Rockabilly Vampires’ “I Wanna Kill You” - just proving I’m a sucker for songs that sound one way, but say another (see: Misfits, Warren Zevon, Alice Cooper, et al). Oh, there’s the “m” word again and - as I said - I can’t help but find the lack of danziggery amazing. Luckily, though, there are a handful of bands that not only have no problem nicking trademark sounds, but kick ass doing so... namely, The Autumn Dead (The Damned), The Ghosts (The Cramps) and The Order Of The Fly (AFI). The middle of the road is filled aptly enough by the likes of The Deadneks’ “Tattoo My Rotten Flesh” and twin donations from The Graveyard Boulevard. Although The Creepniks and DieMonsterDie are certainly no stranger to this site, it takes a little more than “Zombie Kinda Love” and “Charles Manson, He’s So Handsome”, respectively, to get them higher on my Hooray Pole. Shrieking and intolerable hairband wails abound in The Deadthings “Trick Or Treat”, paving the way for The Dishwashers’ (couldn’t have named you lads better m’self!) putrid “Horror Story” and the have-to-be-heard-to-be-believed kick drums of Fink’s “Ghosts In My Life”. As bad as the preceding may be, however, nothing and I mean NOTHING could prepare me for the likes of Damien Storm and “Chamber Of Torture”. Words escape me, but I sincerely hope that his inclusion on the comp settles whatever debt T-Boner so obviously owed him. The boldest among you should venture to Storm's site to behold a photo gallery that will change your fucking lives! I had no idea cucumbers came in a red variety, myself. Gein And The Graverobbers’ “Season Of The Dead” and it’s liberal lifting from HALLOWEEN III round things out appropriately enough and have me hopeful for more pernicious picks from T-Boner in the future. Hats and hairwigs off to ye, laddie!!

"Throughout 10 cuts, Six Feet Underground melds vintage rockabilly wit classic horror themes and imagery. Tunes like the title track ("I'm gonna put you into the ground") tread through what would if unrelieved be nasty territory. But that dismal potential is cleverly avoided by the all but-contradictory rockin; soundtrack. (A similar juxtapostition was perfected by the Ramones, whome Daniel cites as personal favorites.)....

The CD closer, "I Wanna Kill You" weds dreamy 1950s ballad strumming with a deliciously foul, homocidal pledge.

FANTASTIC would be one of the words I would use to describe this cat and his troubadors! He's an undead Chris Isaack!!! - Butch Cleaver, Meet Cleaver Theater