Real Gone Mu

There are zombies…and then there are brain-eating zombies! And Return of the Living Dead was the film where brain-eating zombies got their first lease on, er, life. Co-written by John Russo, who was George Romero’s writing partner on Night of the Living Dead, this 1985 quasi-sequel introduced more “splatstick” humor to the horror formula as well as the indelible image of ghouls groaning “Braainsss” as they shuffle along. All set to a KILLER score featuring the greatest punk and death rock bands of the era, including The Cramps, 45 Grave, The Flesh Eaters, The Damned, Roky Erickson, The Jet Black Berries, T.S.O.L. and SSQ. This 40th anniversary vinyl reissue of this classic soundtrack is just so Real Gone: limited edition sickly green with black “toxic waste” vinyl limited to 1000 rabid copies! Braainsss!

When Freddy Krueger of Nightmare on Elm Street and Jason Voorhees of Friday the 13th butted heads (or lost their heads, heh heh) in the 2003 film Freddy Vs. Jason, the result wasn’t just the most financially successful film for either franchise; it was also the inspiration for possibly the greatest heavy metal soundtrack ever. Drawn from the astonishingly deep Roadrunner label roster, the line-up featured songs from Sepultura, Slipknot, Type O Negative, Sevendust, Lamb of God, Killswitch Engage, Hatebreed, Chimaira…the list goes on. Not only that, but fourteen of the twenty tracks were previously unreleased! Nu metal, death metal, metalcore, industrial…whatever alloy of metal you favor, it’s here. Amazingly, this Top 25-charting release has never come out on LP before; our double-LP red smoke pressing comes inside a gatefold jacket and is limited to 1500 bloodcurdling copies. Happy Halloween!

It’s not too soon to put Tim Burton and Danny Elfman on the short list of the greatest director-composer collaborations in history, right up there with Hitchcock-Herrmann, Spielberg-Williams, Leone-Morricone, and Demy-Legrand. And Elfman’s score to this 2005 stop-motion animated gem is one of his best, displaying his amazing versatility and boundless emotional range with numbers that range from somber chamber music (“Victor’s Piano Music”) to darkly macabre yet somehow jaunty pieces (“Remains of the Day”). And let’s not forget the swing jazz homages performed by Bonejangles (a.k.a. Elfman) and His Bone Boys as bonus tracks (or should that be bone-us tracks?)! We’ve, er, exhumed this fantastic soundtrack in blue moon with purple and black ghost splatter vinyl with a full-color insert. 2-LP set!

Tiomkin Dimitri: It's a Wonderful Life [Vinyl LP]