Left Hand Black formed in 2019 and took the horrorpunk scene by storm with their first release, the self titled Left Hand Black album during the dark days of March 2020. The Swedish four piece are made up of former members of metal band Lake Of Tears, punk rock band Overdrive Solution and horrorpunks The Dead Next Door so they were already well established in the Gothenburg music scene and this is where they have chosen to base themselves as Left Hand Black too.
Lower Than Satan is their second album and contains "fifteen new blistering tracks recorded in two days that will satisfy your thirst for blood as well as your musical craving of carnage". Yes, you heard that correct... recorded in two days!! That is quite insane in itself but listening to it you would not know this. The quality is definitely there, everything is clear as a bell and really well balanced. Left Hand Black play old school horrorpunk and they play it exceptionally well. It's not overly technical stuff so I guess once you've got your "thing" down as well as Left Hand Black do the actual recording is a total breeze. This is really fun stuff, so catchy and easy to sing along to. In their press release the band mention Misfits, Ramones and Bad Religion as some of their main influences and it really shows in their style. You can definitely see Misfits in their lyrical style and theme but they have a definite pop punk edge musically which really embodies their influences and is quintessentially old school horrorpunk.
The first single from Lower Than Satan is the incredibly catchy and big sounding "Murder You", the track has first single written all over it and the Ramones influence is strong with this one. The follow up single being the bass driven, fast paced punk number "Werewolf By Night". With oodles of woahs and ohs throughout the majority of the album it encapsulates all manner of horror themes from monsters, serial killer girlfriends, vampires and possessed body parts. Stand out tracks for me are "Addicted To Blood", "Tonight We Bleed" and "I Am In Love With A Zombie". "Frankenpenis" is also hella good fun!
Lower Than Satan is just under half an hour of happy, horror good time tunes and it is hard to find anything not to like about this album. Left Hand Black kind of say it themselves in the recent release details, "Left Hand Black not only prove that they can write hits, but are also an insanely good live band that take no prisoners!". What we have learned from this statement is that if you are a fan of the horrorpunk genre then you should, if you can, check them out live as soon as possible. If you cant, then get hold of Lower Than Satan and Left Hand Black available via their Bandcamp page, facebook or website today! Lower Than Satan comes as a digital release, CD and super special vinyl so why not collect the whole lot?!!
