Fans of Bruce Springsteen should check out the unreleased track, “A Night With The Jersey Devil,” at brucespringsteen.net. You can download it for free and stream the video until Sunday, Nov. 2, 2008.
“A Night With The Jersey Devil” is fully equipped with a dirty southern blues tone and spooky musical repetition worthy of an evil cult gathering. Springsteen sounds like he is screaming into a microphone 666 feet away creating a creepshow feel, making this a perfect Halloween tune. However, fans will probably use this purely for their Halloween playlists due to the old time muffled production, which was probably The Boss’s intent. 7/10
Hear are the lyrics from the press release:
Hear me now!
I was born 13th child, ‘neath the 13th moon
Spit out all hungry and born anew
Daddy drag me to the river tie me in rocks
Throw me in where it’s deep and wide
I go down, I don’t die
Hole in the river bottom, I crawl through
Come back kill six brothers and sisters, kill papa too
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go
Into my bed with her kerosene my mama creep
Set my flesh to burning, whilst I sleep
I burn, burn, burn, till my soul burn black
Black rains fall, I come back, I come back
Get down Mama, get down low
They gonna know me wherever I go
16 witches, cast 16 spells
Make me a guitar outta skin and human skull
Sing you a song like the wind in the sandy loam
Bring you baby out your happy home
Ram’s head, forked tail, clove hoof, love’s my trail
I sup on your body, sip on your blood like wine
Out world theirs, this world mine
So kiss me baby till it hurts
God lost in heaven, we lost on earth
Sway down Mama, sway down low
They gonna know me wherever I go
Wherever I go, wherever I go
Well I got a brand new lover
I love her yes I do,
She’s my one and only and her name is Baby Blue…
Nov.4
Nov. 23:
What ingredients make up a great Halloween song? Does one focus on creepy sounds and keys, ghoulish vocals, evil guitars, or disturbing lyrics? Here is a list of the five best rock songs for Halloween that incorporate at least several of the qualities listed above…
Creepy and doomy, the sophomore six-track sojourn from Arkansas sludge metal quartet Deadbird is a viscous Southern-fried delight whose massive rhythmic rumblings give the band the sheer heft to properly obliterate all in their wake. From the menacing slow-churned intro on “Into the Clearing,” this oppressive unit takes you through a grueling 47:23 journey steeped in sonic excess and draped with eerie vocal harmonies and dazzling acoustic interludes (“The Riverbed”), descending down through the deepest recesses to unearth the sleeping Southern rock giant (“Feral Flame”) to unleash thick waves of metallic lava for tortured souls to bask in. If you dig Mastodon and love Crowbar, prepare to meet your new favorite band. 
Personifying a true thrash metal throwback, Missouri outfit Head On Collision channel the early periods of heavyweights such as Kreator, Nuclear Assault, Exodus, and first few Slayer records for influence on the 11-track Ritual Sacrifice. These dudes are pretty well-versed in doling out hyper-speed riffs and blistering solos (“The Flames of Aggression”) and while there’s nary a sign of originality apparent (is that riff from the title cut lifted from Slayer or what?), the band’s stone-faced delivery, spot-on precision (especially on the drums) and brash bravado propel tracks like the chuggingly good “Electrocutioner” and “Retaliate” away from the pack and into territories reserved for newer retro acts such as Municipal Waste. If you’re a thrash enthusiast, picking this disc up is essential. 
Veteran Swedish band Grave returns with another installment of sinewy death metal that blends high-speed velocity and doom-laden crunch on the nine-track Dominion VIII. This devastating affair demonstrates the band’s ability to go from slow crawl to rapid-fire pace in the blink of an eye (“Annihilated Christ”) in addition to displaying Grave’s unwavering attachment to the darker side of the spectrum on cuts like “Stained By Hate.” 20 years in and still as extreme as their early days, this truculent crew returns in fine fighting form, ready to go into metal combat with the vitriolic virtue and fortified firepower that has rendered them one of the Swedish elite death metal’s forces. 
Spreading beyond the confines of the deathcore genre, California’s All Shall Perish return with Awaken The Dreamers. This 12-track release demonstrates the merging of the quintet’s savage brutality with a bevy of surprises which renders this offering as a well-textured entity that can still provide its share of crushing moshpit moments. While ardent supporters of the group will be relieved that the breakdown-heavy death metal style on scorchers like “Stabbing to Purge Dissimulation” and “Never…Again” is still a major part of the outfit’s arsenal, tracks like the melodic instrumental “Until the End”, the traditional metal-esque shred and scream tactics on “Black Gold Reign” and the melancholic Opeth-like “Memories of a Glass Sanctuary” display All Shall Perish’s penchant for bold experimentation and disdain for complacency without compromising a shred of their dignity. Retaining their bludgeoning foundation while showcasing a slew of progressive tendencies, All Shall Perish have morphed into a monstrous metal hybrid geared for forward thinking fans of modern heavy music. 
Overall Let There Be Blood is a grand improvement over Bonded By Blood from a production standpoint. The quality of the recording is better, the mix is better (you can actually hear the bass), even the artwork is better; and relatively speaking, the vocals are better. Facts are facts and if there’s one thing that can be said about Exodus it is that they always had the right vocalist for the right time. It is a tragedy that Baloff couldn’t be a part of this project and showcase his professional growth between then and now. But there is also no way he wouldn’t be proud of his band mates for preserving his legacy.
Stumble It!
