Spooky

With Halloween coming up soon, this just seems a perfect record to discuss. First, there is the sleeve design which is based on old horror comics such as Creepy or Eerie and really helps get the vibe going. As far as just the packaging goes, this one is one of my absolute favorite 7" records of all-time.

The two sides are divided by something of a theme. Side A is "Doom" and side B is "Death", which should be pretty self-explanatory, but in case it isn't, side A features each band doing a doomier song and side B features each band doing a more death metalish song.

First song is Acid Witch doing "Evil", which is not a cover of the Mercyful Fate song by the same name, but is every damn bit as good, in my opinion. It is slow without being a boring-ass, plodding slog through uninspired riffs. Instead, it pulls you in and is very memorable. I usually find myself singing the guitar part along with this one. The organ sounds of the keyboard also bring that "spooky" mood to the song. What else can I say? It is a great tune. This is followed by Nunslaughter's "Spooky Tails". Being Nunslaughter, it should be no surprise that this is a more stripped down, straightforward song than "Evil". It kicks off with a great mid-paced riff that will sometimes just randomly pop into my head. This song overall is faster than "Evil", but it isn't outright fast. It is more of a faster mid-paced song. It is quite a distinct difference from the Acid Witch song it follows, but that is as it should be since it is two different bands.

On the "Death" side, Nunslaughter kicks things off with "A Sordid Past". Here we get Nunslaughter's trademark fast, no-nonsense devil metal belting out of the speakers. Of Nunslaughter's two songs on Spooky I do prefer "Spooky Tails", but "A Sordid Past" is no throwaway song. It is quite good. Finishing off the record is "Fiends of Old" from Acid Witch. This is a nostalgic ode to the bygone earlier years of death metal before every band was getting overly-polished productions and getting fixated on just being "brutal technical death metal" all the time and cramming as many notes into a riff as possible, regardless of whether or not it actually made a good riff. While it is not a moody as "Evil", it is a really catchy song and is just a damn fun one at that. It showcases another side of the band. Plus, it has references to Impetigo and Necrophagia in it, which is cool in my book.

With split releases, one of the bands is typically going to outshine the other. Sometimes it will be by a lot and sometimes it is just by a bit. In this case, I would say it is just by a bit and it would be Acid Witch that does it on this one. This is not to knock Nunslaughter's half, but it is probably due to the fact that Acid Witch has approximately 1/100 of the discography that Nunslaughter has. It doesn't matter though, because both bands deliver some really great metal, making this a split that any fan of either band should definitely pick up.