Reviews

V/A All Hell Breaks Loose: A Tribute to the Misfits LP

This record raises the age-old question: do we really need another MISFITS tribute comp? Does that band, who long ago moved from cult favorite to Hot Topic mainstay, truly warrant more attention? I mean, we’re talking about a band whose “crimson ghost” shirt became so ubiquitous by 2010 that it threatened to undercut the value of the North American Punk Point. Well, whatever your view, it exists, so let’s deal. A lot of these songs play it straight, so if you enjoy a loving rendition of a popular standard, you will find it here. There’s an acoustic take on “Some Kind of Hate,” which will remind you, as if you needed it, just what a remarkable ear for melody these guys had. There are also some truly head-turning interpretations by the LOST LOVES and ST. DIGUE which I will not soon forget. So, like it or not, the MISFITS and their legacy will continue to lurch through the subculture like the living dead.