Real Gone Mu

Between movies and TV shows like The Last of Us, The Walking Dead, and 28 Days (and Years) Later, the 2000s have been something of a golden age for zombie horror. But for our money, every bit as terrifying as those titles is The Devil Wears Prada’s 2010 EP Zombie. In 22 minutes, you’re an aural witness to succeeding stages of the zombie apocalypse, complete with neck-snapping riffs, frenzied vocals, intricate song structures and eerie found sound. If it ever happens, this is what it will sound like. Remastered for vinyl in its first American release to retail since its OG pressing, uncontrollably spreading across the country in radioactive test tube green wax with insert.

A 1964 horror rock classic from the king of the genre, Gary Paxton! Gary was the producer behind the all-time Halloween hit “Monster Mash,” and that song rears its revivified head here (in a little more R&B vein) along with such frightening fare as “Monster Surf Stomp,” “Werewolf Watusi,” and “That Little Old Graverobber Me.” And let’s not forget the classic single, “Riboflavin-Flavored, Non-Carbonated, Polyunsaturated Blood,” which was later covered by modern day horror rockers 45 Grave! Very, very collectible stuff that’s been buried in the Capitol vaults outside of a budget cassette release back in the ‘80s, featuring Las Vegas DJ Don Hinson doing excellent Bela Lugosi et al. impressions to producer Paxton’s driving beats. Orange and black pumpkin splatter pressing limited to 2000 copies!

Big Head Todd and the Monsters: Sister Sweetl... [Vinyl LP]

The third time was the charm for Cold, as album #3 went to #3 on the charts. Vocalist Scooter Ward was always (and still is) the band’s biggest asset, so Year of the Spider’s move in a more melodic direction worked both artistically and commercially, even landing them a hit single (“Stupid Girl,” co-written with Weezer’s Rivers Cuomo). But take a closer listen, and the emotional depth and vulnerability of Ward’s lyrics really do set Cold apart from its grunge and nu-metal contemporaries. And who doesn’t relate to a song called “Kill the Music Industry?!” Incredibly, this 2003 smash has never been out on LP…we’ve had it remastered for the format, and pressed it in red with white spider web swirl vinyl nestled inside a gatefold jacket. Way overdue release!

You ready to catch a monster grave? Surf on this 1964 classic from the venerable Vee-Jay label! While this album has been reissued before, this is the first time it’s been cut all-analog straight from the original tapes. And there are some real treats to savor in all their pure sonic glory, like “There’s a Creature in the Surfer’s Lagoon,” which The Cramps must have heard a time or three. As always with these anonymous Halloween concept albums (see our Frankie Stein and the Ghouls releases), speculation has run rampant as to who’s playing on Monster Surfing Time; suspicion this time falls on legendary “Games People Play” guitarist Joe South, who penned five of the numbers here and whose first hit was, after all, 1958’s “The Purple People Eater Meets the Witch Doctor.” So we’re gonna go with him as a likely suspect. We’re pressing this one in bloody pumpkin vinyl limited to 900 copies!

Ghouls: Dracula's Deuce (Orange) [Vinyl LP]