VLADIMIRS
Serpent Girl & & Songs to
Shed the Skin
Blood & Guts Records 2006
www.thevladimirs.com

What’s the 4-1-1?
Horror punk sensation The Vladimirs release their sixth full length album.

Genre
Horror rock / horror punk

The Good
The title track “Serpent Girl” brings forth some of that classic catchy ‘horror rock’ sounding guitar. One you hear this it will immediately get stuck in your head. Don’t try to avoid it because you simply cannot. The groovy guitar lines continue for the entire song and it never lets up. “Has Been That Never Was”, aside from the funny song title, provides more of that catchy guitar. The riffs in this song are definitely interesting. “The Writhing” shows off some cool guitar work and is probably the fastest song on the album. The feel of the song just makes you want to get up and jump around! “She’s Been Worshipping the Devil” has easily the funniest lyrics out of the album, and is also once again a catchy song.

The Bad
I feel that later on in the album, some of the songs aren’t that intriguing and the listener will loose interest in them (like I did).

The Verdict
Ok so there are a lot more horror rock/punk bands out there than I thought. Some can make it, some cannot. The difficult challenge is trying to top what the Frankenstein Drag Queens made and pulled off. A lot of them try, but most fall short. I feel as though The Vladimirs fell short, but won as well. Complicated I know, but look at it this way; they may have not made the grand stuff that FDQ has done, and they have not hit that high point yet, but they have their own thing going.

They have fans, they are making CD’s, and they’re playing shows. Sounds simple? Not so much. The horror rock/punk genre is a difficult thing to do. Some may not think that, but it is. The Vladimirs are standing strong making their horror punk music and that is where they win at. Keeping true to themselves and not dropping the music. Plus staying strong during the good and bad times and releasing good music.

Did You Know?
The Vladimirs have been on multiple Hollywood Soundtracks.

Rating: out of 5

--Derek Carey