Horror Releases For Record Store Day 2015

Here at SOC, we're all about independent everything; independent horror, independent music, independent wrestling, independent variables, independent women, independent clauses, whatever.  So, of course, I'm all about Record Store Day.  If you don't know what I'm talking about...well, first of all, shame on you.  Second, it's a day (specifically the third Saturday of April each year) when bands release special edition vinyls and indie record stores everywhere host events to celebrate the role of the record store.  Part of me thinks that maybe, if we had done something like this, maybe we could have saved the video store.  Anyway, there are always some cool horror related items every year.  In the past these have included things like a 7" with the Misfits version of skulls on the A side and Evan Dando's cover on side B, a glow in the dark Ghostbusters single, a limited to 666 Dracula 1972 / Satanic Rites of Dracula soundtrack, and a truly bad ass Last House on the Left Soundtrack picture disk that I tried like hell to get my hands on.  There are hundreds of unique releases of all genres specifically for the event, but I'm gonna focus on the horror tinged ones.  Now not every store will get them all, some have very limited print runs, and some will ONLY be available on Record Store Day.  So unless you wanna pay a fortune for them on ebay later, I'd suggest that you get there early, grease the right palms, plan strategically, or whatever you have to do to get the ones you want.  You can visit www.recordstoreday.com to find participating stores near you and see a full listing of all of the 2015 RSD releases.

Probably the most directly horror related is this 12" Walking Dead Soundtrack Volume 2 picture disc.  It includes the tracks...
Side A: Portugal the Man "Heavy Games"; Sharon Van Etten "Serpents"
Side B: Lee Dewyze "Blackbird Song"; A.C. "Be Not So Fearful"; Ben Nichols "This Old Death"

There will be a digitally remastered  re-release of the 1989 Rocky Horror Picture Show "Time Warp EP"
featuring the original, extended, remixed, and karaoke versions of the song.

GWAR, featuring everyone's favorite Scumdog from Adam Greene's closet Oderus Urungus (RIP) will be releasing a remastered vinyl pressing of their best album (in my humble but always accurate opinion) America Must Be Destroyed. It comes with an RSD Exclusivity Certificate and Gor-Gor Pop Up Album Art.

We all know that metal and horror go hand in hand, and the biggest metal release this year is When The Stillness Stops, the first track off of Slayer's upcoming new album. This cool ass picture disc single will also feature a live version of Black Magic recorded at Wacken in 2014.

Leatherface have nothing to do with TCM except the name, but they're a damn good punk band.  They'll be releasing a 3 disc box set entitled  Razor Blades And Aspirin:1990-1993.

One of the more bizarre releases this year that I honestly don't know much about is Nightsatan and the Loops of Doom by Nightsatan.  They're a band from Finland who apparently made a short film and are releasing the soundtrack on green vinyl with a region free DVD of the film included.  This is one of the more limited releases this year, so be on the lookout.  Here's the trailer...

30 Day Horror Challenge Strikes Back Day 16: Character you would leave to die.

Welcome to Zombie Survival, Group Dynamics, and Not Being a Dumbass 101 folks. Ok, here’s how this is gonna work. I’m going to give you a hypothetical situation. Then, you tell me what you would do. By the way, this little exercise is based on a scenario faced by Rick Grimes in episodes two and three of The Walking Dead. Got it? Ok, here we go…

It’s the Zombie Apocalypse. You wake up in a hospital, barely survive, find that your wife and son are gone, and set off in search of them. You make your way to Atlanta. You get swarmed in the streets, but you meet a small group of survivors who save your life. As you get to know your new comrades, you hear gunshots on the roof. Your first introduction to Merle is seeing him shooting off rounds, wasting valuable ammo, and drawing the zombies to your location. Then the obnoxious coked up redneck starts throwing around racial slurs and attacks another member of the group. When you try to break it up, he jacks your jaw too. He then proceeds to put a gun in the face of the guy he’s assaulting and then wave it around at everyone else in the group demanding that he be put in charge. You manage to get the drop on him and handcuff him to a pipe. He threatens you, telling you that you’d “better pray” if he gets loose. After a harrowing escape from the building, you find out that the guy you gave the handcuff key to dropped it and that Merle is still there. You get back to camp, and miraculously you find your family. You meet Merle’s brother, who is also violent and extremely proficient with a crossbow. He asks about Merle. What do you do?

1. Tell him that his brother died fighting the zombies, make sure your story is straight with the others, and move on.
2. Tell him what happened. When he inevitably attacks you, kill him in self-defense. The group goes on without the two douchebags no one liked anyway.
3. Tell him what happened. Subdue him. Hope he doesn’t decide to avenge his brother some day when your back is turned.
4. Tell him what happened, and then plan a rescue mission back into the zombie infested city, risking four lives to save a man who is a danger to the group’s survival?

I’m sure most of you said A. That’s what I would do; therefore it’s the correct answer. I’d leave Merle up there to die. To tell you the truth I probably would have tossed him off of the roof into the zombie infested streets before I left. A few of you might have said B or C. A case can be made for those answers, so I’ll accept those too. I can’t imagine that any of you said D, but if you did, you have failed this class. Congratulations, you have poor decision making skills and are probably going to get everyone eaten. Don’t feel too bad though, that’s what Rick Grimes did.

There is absolutely no logical excuse for going back to save Merle. He was attacking and threatening at gunpoint members of your group. He was violently racist. When your survival depends on the unity of your group, that’s not going to fly. The group is better off without him, as his recklessness would most likely get you all killed. What the hell do you think is going to happen the second you get the handcuffs off? You knocked him out and took his spot as alpha male of the group, threw his stash off the building, and left him to die. He’s going to kill you, or at least try. His brother is going to side with him too. Doesn’t seem like a good idea to me.

On top of that, it involves going back into Zombie infested Atlanta. I live 20 miles from Atlanta, it’s not even zombie infested yet, and I only go there when I absolutely have to. Movie screenings, concerts, you know; that kind of life or death stuff. To save a man who wants to kill me that no one but three others had to know was still there in the first place? Hell no! They would have gone with the “the zombies got him” story. Besides, you just found your wife and son. That’s one in a million. The very next day you want to go risk your life and the lives of three others to save a prick like Merle? She’s begging you not to go. Your son is begging you not to go. Your best friend is begging you not to go. The whole group is glad to be rid of Merle. What the hell are you thinking? Your little ideas about it being “dishonorable and inhuman” to leave him mean precisely diddly crap in this situation. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, especially if that few is Merle. Screw Merle. Besides, he’s played by Michael Rooker. Have you seen Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer? That dude’s scary. Let him rot on the rooftop.