Bats Bats BatsAll My Friends Are Ghosts and Soon I Will Be Too
Album, released 30th October 2025
Bats Bats Bats describe themselves as 'emotional punk rock' and that's a very valid description of a band who are horror punk in the vein of Creeper, Alkaline Trio and Salem. A mix of the gothic side of the genre with the emotion-driven melodic punk rock, the band (hailing from London and the south east of England) deliver a polished sound but keep a strong DIY ethos. After a string of a very good single releases, they finally release their debut album - but can it fulfill the potential those earlier releases promised? Let's take a look.
The album (the artwork for which, I must add at this point, is beautiful. It has a vintage Halloween vibe to it which sits very well with the bands sound) starts in a suitably hauntingly way with the scene-setting
The Deep, a spoken wood gothic poem before kicking straight into a reworked
Ghosts, which was the bands second single release. The original has quickly become a firm favourite of mine, driven along on an energetic melodic punk sound, and the version is here is just as good. There's an added 'echoey' element which works really well and loses none of the punch. A memorable and catchy track to open things up, and legitimately one of the best UKHP songs of all time.
