Balzac
Out of the Grave and Into the Dark

Misfits Records/2005

So here we have a Japanese foursome who, based on the cover of their latest album, look like a group of scary mofos with their leather jackets, bandit-style masks, and devilocks.  And that’s good, because they’re self-described ‘horror punks.’  But what does it mean to be a horror punk exactly?  Well, most of it probably does have to do with style, but it also sounds like one has to do a fair amount of screaming and quick riffing.  Balzac does a decent amount of both, but they also leave a lot of room on the tamer side of things.

The 22 tracks on this combo album (a meshing of two previous releases) span a range of genres, including straight-forward rock, some industrial, and the aforementioned scream tracks.  It’s easy to see the Misfits’ influence on some of their songs, like “Season of the Dead” and “Gimme Some Truth,” the latter of which is one of their best off this disc. 

There’s even some of the trademark Misfits “woahhh-oh-ohhs” to boot.  But then they get a little off course with moderate speeds, a lengthy slow ballad (“Yami-no-hikari-e”), and those forgettable screamers.  I’m sure these are dabbles in other interests, but they tend to be more of a speed bump to the flow of the record.

Jerry Only calls this a “rip-your-face-off record” and claims that “not even the grave can contain the power of this band.”  I would agree that Balzac rarely lets up throughout the course of this album, and they certainly can be explosive, but they could’ve easily cut out the wayward stuff and made a slick 15 track record of rock.  Hang onto your face just in case, though.

-- Evan Mauser, 8/10/05