Burn: Out and Up.

I need to find an official 'Gravediggers Local 16 Halloween Countdown Trophy' and mail it to Weird Jon for this is the third consecutive year in a row that he's maintained a straight countdown OR lasted longer than I have. The man is a machine.

I wouldn't say I burn out easily but that the part of my mind that is reserved for Halloween is hardwired in a way that it can't really stand repetition for long. I like spooky but I like spooky that's different. This is a problem because spooky things (movies, books, music) usually, to me, end up sounding/being derivative, bland and somewhat dull.

So. A few days ago, I come across The Order of the Fly's 'Rot':



I was generally excited because here is a band that had a song under two minutes. Ecstatic! Holy cow, here's something new. A death punk band keeping it brief and heavy. Sort of different. The singer's voice wasn't trying to emulate Glenn Danzig, Peter Murphy or Elvis. Seemed something new.

Of course, the under two minute song was not the norm. Which, I can now see, makes sense. The Order of the Fly has two singers and two keyboards (keyboard + keytar) so it's kind of hard to have a discography made up of solely two to three minute songs without half your band getting bored.

They're still a good band. If you want to find a band that infuses punk, metal and new wave into something spooky, The Order of the Fly is there for you.

They're not the only instances. Here's Blitzkid.



Blitzkid has been around for years and I have kind of overlooked them, not out of any real reason. Similarly, I catch the above video and thing 'what have I been ignoring all these years?' A two minute song that's catchy, angry and fast? Well, let's see what they have.

Similar results. Disappointment.

See, Blitzkid has some talented musicians, much like Order of the Fly. Hardcore punk, the basis of the two minute fast song, wasn't started by any text-book-talented musicians. Yeah, Minor Threat was great and so was Bad Brains. And 'Milo Goes to College' is a great album, but they kept it short, fast and sweet more because that was the attention span and anger of the time.

Cue twenty-five years later, and you got the devilspawn of hardcore and they actually have some chops. Blitzkid, yeah. They can put out an album of two minute speed deathpunk on it but after that's done, they're going to be bored. Listening to their other songs, it was clear that they have brains as well as talent, much like Order of the Fly. These are bands that think, and kind of want to be entertained playing the music as they entertain you.

So I continue on my days, looking for the mixture of Minutemen and Misfits. I'll add 'Nosferatu' and 'Rot' to a playlist and rock out for as long as I can before burning out and burning up.