It was a very cold November night that I found myself in Kuopio to catch a rare show from The Ghoulstars. Feeling quite miserable after seeing one of the final shows of a favourite band of mine the night before, I was in need of a pick-me-up – and it seems like I went to the right place because this was just a tremendously fun performance from start to finish.
Honestly I can’t say I’m that familiar with punk and it’s numerous subgenres as a whole, and yes…perhaps the main reason for me going to check The Ghoulstars out was because of me being a fan of certain members’ previous endeavours. But just because I don’t listen to a particular style very often doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy it when it is done well – and The Ghoulstars do the whole horror punk/metal shtick very well indeed.
Playing a ten song set, The Ghoulstars naturally played the majority of their upcoming debut album – and I’ve been told that the two songs they didn’t play are two of the strongest, so surely we are in for a great when the aforementioned album is unleashed. We even got some special guests onstage, one in the form of the Hype Wolf invading the stage for their song The Wolfman, and how can you not enjoy seeing someone dressed as a wolf causing chaos?! Things like this just add another dimension to the show and really helps with the band-audience connection.
You can’t beat a bit of audience participation either, and when they got to their track Too Ghoul For School, naturally it felt like it was made for the room to yell back the lines “too ghoul, too ghoul for school” and the vibe was great as the crowd moved about and shouted the lines back. The thing that made this performance so good was the fact you could see how much of a blast the band was having. I touched on this in my previous live review of Atreyu but it rings true for The Ghoulstars too; it really makes a show all the more enjoyable when you can’t tell who is having more fun – the crowd or the band!
Considering The Ghoulstars haven’t released a single song yet, the venue was nicely full for them, but after witnessing their live spectacle it definitely feels like The Ghoulstars is a band that is best appreciated live. So I for one am glad that my first experience of them was seeing them perform at a small club venue. Keep your eyes peeled for this band…this is surely the start of great things for them.
Setlist:
Graverobbers From Outer Space
The Wolfman
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
Zombie Apocalypse
The Dark Overlords Of The Universe
Vampire
Trainrobbers
Too Ghoul For School
Where Eagles Dare
Last Caress
