"When Leopold II ascended to the throne as Archduke of Austria in 1790, we, The Hamiltones, found ourselves out of favor with the court in Vienna. His Majesty disliked our style of music, the lobcock, and we experienced an informal blacklist from all concert halls in the capital. But, our luck turned with the arrival of a peculiar letter in a jet-black envelope, sealed with red wax: a humble invitation to play in the realm of Court György Bánffy. We were obliged, financially speaking, to make the trip to Transylvania to play the mysterious Dracula Invitational, 1791."

And with nary a moment of hesitation, scarcely a shred of doubt, The Hamiltones marched on a heading towards Bran Castle, with the prospect of simple, virtuous bardship. Though, with the event's namesake bearing the title of the one and true Vampire King, a question might be posed thusly to this weary trio of musicians: "Could there possibly be... vampires?"

Well, I mean. Yeah. For sure.

The underlying narrative of The Hamiltones' latest LP, "Dracula Invitational, 1791", is not solely contained to the wax-sealed letter found inside the vinyl's sleeve, which was quoted during the onset of this piece -- in fact, the chronology of The Hamiltones' fate could be easily surmised from the track list alone. But, beyond all these conscious detailings, small traces of the album's untold storyline can be discerned though the small auditory cues within the instrumentals themselves, with the rumblings and howlings from the phantasma in attendance of this devilish soiree occasionally emanating into the foreground of the mix. But moreover, the tonal inflections of these surf rock ballads manages to harmonize with the overarching narrative of the album in a way that speaks volumes to the group's commitment to their gothic showmanship, with dark, weighted curtains shuttering around the music during intense periods of dread and uncertainty, and tall, sweltering flames reaching for the ceiling stones of the vampire lord's chambers as the the group approaches the apex of their rock and roll fervency, stimulating the vampiric horde into a massive revolving door of disembodied innards and assorted viscera from peasants once-lived. The level of musicianship displayed by the group in this LP is nothing short of electrifying, a culmination of talents from the members' preceding gestation in acts like Science Man and Radiation Risks. Sharp, punctuated, spasmodic: this is a supersonic melodrama for the ages, performed with the utmost clarity and precision, the soundscapes positively compacted with throngs of stringed accompaniment, hollowing organic keystrokes, and a chorus of spirits long-since damned before the evening of the Dracula Invitational of 1791. Possessing a keen feeling for the melodic nous of rock stylings stretching across multiple generations, The Hamiltones are near-guaranteed to spark an infernal groove somewhere within the lower echelons of your conscious. And when it does... maybe you'll find that Count Hemoglobin the Magnificent was in good company after all.

"Dracula Invitational, 1791" is easily one of the greatest surf rock records I've ever had the pleasure of listening to, one that I insist on playing to total and utter completion, time and time again -- and as if I needed any help cementing that sentiment, it only helps that the album is about fucking vampires, too. That's just cool. Some records are available at the group's Bandcamp page below. I highly, highly recommend that you pick one up if this album stimulates you in any way, before the records sell out. The presentation of the LP is about as thoughtful as the music itself.

TRACK LIST:
Dracula Invitational - 0:00
Rise and Moonshine - 2:37
Night Court (Part I) - 4:51
Oh No, We've Made a Terrible Mistake - 5:21
Night Court (Part II) - 8:28
Garlic Cross - 10:17
Midnight Approaches - 10:44
Whole Lotta Suckin' Goin' On - 12:19
Hemoglobin the Magnificent - 14:36
Night Court (Part III) - 16:13
What If We Don't Eat the Musicians? - 16:27
No, Let's Eat the Musicians - 19:08
Night Court (Part IV) - 23:18
And We Were All Draculas - 23:38

SUPPORT: https://thehamiltones.bandcamp.com/al...