You’ve just watched the Misfits play themusicfestival Coachella. You can’t get songs like “Skulls,” “Astro Zombies,” and “Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?” out of your head. You’ve listened toWalk Among Us,Static Age, and the entire box set on streaming - and you wantmore. If that’s the case, congratulations: you’re now a fan of horror punk, the music subgenre that’s all about slasher flicks and killer riffs.

While the Misfits weren’t the first to pair horror and music together - see Roky Erickson, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Screamin' Lord Sutch, Alice Cooper, and such - they’re considered the pioneers of horror punk. Some people save music like that exclusively for October, but if these creepy sounds are something you’d want to play year-round, there are some horror punk bands you need to check out.

1045 Grave

Most early punk bands had elements of horror naturally. The Ramones had “Chainsaw;” The Cramps had “I Was A Teenage Werewolf,” “Zombie Dance,” and the Ed Gein-inspired “TV Set;” The Damned’s frontman, Dave Vanian, was the vampire boyfriend of every goth’s dreams. But if you want more of the Misfits' contemporaries that sing predominantly about dark subjects, then it’s time to explore horror punk’s older sibling, death rock, and specifically, 45 Grave.

Death rock is the intersection between goth, punk, post-punk, glam, and industrial. 45 Grave, fronted by Dinah Cancer with a changing lineup that would feature members of The Germs, the Gun Club, The Bags, and more classic L.A. punk bands, writhe and howl with bombast and seduction.

Death rock is the intersection between goth, punk, post-punk, glam, and industrial.

The band’s peak success came with theReturn of the Living Dead, with their song “Partytime” used during the graveyard scene in that horror classic. 45 Grave is the death rock band that new Misfits fans should check out before exploring the genre’s other stars, like Christian Death, Super Heroines, Screaming Dead, Antiworld, Alien Sex Fiend, and Rudimentary Peni.

9Forbidden Dimension

Forbidden Dimension is one of the longest-running horror rock bands, having started in 1988 and still playing today. Whereas the Misfits' music is very attuned to 1950s song structure, Forbidden Dimension rises from the tomb of ’70s hard rock and proto-metal (theirA Cool Sound Outta Hellalbum features a song called “Vincent Price Eruptum,” a tribute to Blue Cheer’sVincebus Eruptum). The group has a massive sound, making cinematic slashers for your ears.

Forbidden Dimension has played with genres the way Dr. Frankenstein does with body parts, with songs stitched with prog rock, twang, and punk. It’s all devilishly fun. Founded by frontman and guitarist Jackson Phibes, the group has sported a cadre of collaborators. Currently, drummer P.T. Bnham and bassist Virginia Dentata play alongside Phibes, and the trio’s most recent album is 2023’sMidnight Stew.

8Calabrese

The self-proclaimed “world’s greatest goth vamp rock band,” Calabrese, is a good place to start to get into the horror punk of the early 2000s. Formed by three brothers - guitarist/vocalist Bobby, drummer Davey, and bassist Jimmy - the group broke through just as the early2000s emo scenewas rising. Calabrese released their debut album,13 Halloweens, the same year My Chemical Romance put outThree Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Both drew comparisons to AFI, a band that was directly influenced by the Misfits. This means thatif you like MCR and AFI, you’ll probably like Calabrese.

In the years since they debuted, Calabrese has grown.They Call Us Deathleans more into punk and metal.Lust For Sacrilegewas more into the goth-doom of Glen Danzig’s post-Misfits projects (Samhain, Danzig). The group is set to releaseNo Return From Darkness, their first EP with bassist Argyle Goolsby, in a few months.

7Blitzkid

Horror punk continued to exist after the original Misfits broke up in the early ’80s, but without its biggest band, the genre fell out of fashion (if it was everinfashion to begin with). Two bands are credited with reviving horror punk in the ’90s: AFI and Blitzkid. While AFI shifted to a more post-hardcore and emo sound withSing the Sorrow, Blitzkid stayed on the horror punk path from inception to its demise in the early 2010s.

Blitzkid stayed on the horror punk path from inception to its demise in the early 2010s.

Created by Argyle Goolsby and TD Monstrosity, the band adopted the melodic hardcore sound of ’90s skate punk bands.Let Flowers Die, the band’s debut album, influenced many creepy punks to start their bands. The group broke up in 2012, with Goolsby beginning a solo career while Monstrosity played in his band, Vagora. Blitzkid reunited in 2019, with plans for a 2020 reunion tour that were later postponed to 2022.

6Zombina And The Skeletones

While a lot of horror punk leans into the “punk” aspect, with bands like Vladimirs, Bad Whoremoans, and Savage Remains thrashing about like Leatherface at the end of the firstTexas Chainsaw Massacremovie, Zombina and the Skeletones offer a different take on the genre. With elements of garage punk, do-wop and power pop,their music is charismatic like a black widowand infectious like a zombie’s bite.

The English group employs a lot of humor in their music (“Can’t Break a Dead Girl’s Heart,” “Nobody Likes You (When You’re Dead),” “A Chainsaw for Christmas”), along with a variety of styles. Their “Vincent Price” is a dark cabaret number that celebrates the horror maestro. After a hiatus, the group returned in 2024 withThe Call of Zombina, and horror punk is so much better for it.

5The Jasons

Pop punk and horror go together like Jason Voorhees and a hockey mask- and so, enter The Jasons. This quartet of slashers, Jason V, 3D, Hollywood and Hell, play “red-blooded American punk rock” that’s all about theFriday The 13thfranchise. With songs like “It’s Still Crystal Lake to Me (No Matter What They Call It In Part 6),” “Tina’s Got Telekinesis,” “Crazy Ralph (Shut Your Mouth)” and “New Wave Girl,” The Jasons unleash punk rock fury that’s one part Johnny Ramone downstroke, one part KISS theatrics.

Now, if this band were just a one-note joke, it wouldn’t be funny after the first few songs, but there’s serious music chops behind these leather-jacketed, machete-wielding marauders. They show one aspect that many forget about horror punk: it’s supposed to be a lot of fun. Audiences have fun with The Jasons, whether they’re opening for punk legends like The Queers or Dwarves (or playing their own shows, like the one they have set for June 13, the only Friday the 13th in 2025).

4The Evil Streaks

Since forming at the start of the century, Necro-Tone Records has been a home to a horde of horrors: the instrumental cemetery surfers Gein and the Graverobbers; all-female rockers Ghouls Night Out; The Crimson Ghosts,the only instrumental surf tribute to the Misfits; and garage rock deviants, The Demon Seeds. The label is a good place to explore to find new additions to your horror punk collection, which needs The Evil Streaks.

Featuring members of Ghouls Night Out, The Demon Seeds, The Nebulas, and The Negans, the band is ghoulish garage rock with a bite. Their debut,Talk To The Dead, is a must-have for the next time you break out the witch board. The group’s most recent album, 2017’s self-titled LP, takes their sound to the grave - and beyond. The band is perfect for fans of The Cramps (they just got done playing Lux Lives!, the yearly celebration of the late Cramps singer).

3Zombie Surf Camp

If you like surf music, you’ll probably like horror punk. The two genres pair well together, and you can mix in some Genki Genki Panic, Ghastly Ones, and Messer Chups with The Long Losts, Mumula and Venom Lords. For further proof, wade knee-deep into the waters of Zombie Surf Camp.The group that combines surf, new wave, and horror punk puts them all on a surfboard and tells them to hang ten.

The group sings about what you’d expect a band called Zombie Surf Camp would (“Now, I Am A Zombie,” “Zombie Twist,” “What’s Eating You?"), though the group has an eco-conscious element to their music (“Krataiis,” “Flipper,” “The Kelpie”) which turns the “humans are the real monster” trope on its head… before they all take a bite out of its skull. “67,” which documents a victim turning into an undead shambler, coversjust how sad undeath could be. It’s poignant stuff from a band of surfing corpses.

2Horror Section

A problem with small scenes is that they can become insular and derivativefast. The Misfits' success has, unfortunately, prompted many to dress like them, play like them, and sing like them. So, when you find a band like Horror Section, it’s a jolt - like 10,000 volts to the neckbolts. The Missouri group plays straightforward pop-punk with a horror bent, eschewing corpse paint or hair gel to look like they’re clerks at the last video rental store in the world - and it’s got a packed horror section (get it?).

They’re not the only band to dress like themselves and play music that doesn’t copy Davey Havok/Glen Danzig’s “Woaaahs!” (The Big Bad, High Heels, etc.). However, they are exceptionally successful, releasing limited-run vinyl pressings that sell out quickly. They’re a band that knows that spooky kids are collectors at heart, and they appeal to that itch while delivering some of the most catchy, blood-splattered melodic hardcore out there.

1Creeper

While it’s good for legacy groups like the Misfits to keep horror punk alive, the genre needs fresh blood in its veins. Thankfully, Creeperhas been recruiting new fans into the army of the night with their blend of goth, art, glam and horror rock. In the decade since their formation, Creeper has released three albums to date, with the most recent beingSanguivore, released in 2023. The new record saw the band at their most “grandiose and ambitious,” according toKarrang!.

Creeper has been recruiting new fans into the army of the night with their blend of goth, art, glam and horror rock.

The band still keeps a sense of humor. “Over the years, I’ve grown tired of watching people in melodic-hardcore bands pretend to be sincere all the time, and all the fun is just stripped from it,” vocalist William Gould toldAlt Press. “I have always felt that what we do is go, ‘Hey, here’s the pantomime.’ And there’s some realness inside, once you get to the crux of it.”