Since 2019, spooky hitmaker collective LVCRFT has been pumping out new hits and new albums to help fill your Halloween playlist with fresh tunes for the season. On Friday, they release their fourth album, “Scream Warriors,” and it’s unlike anything you’ve heard.
LVCRFT was kind enough to invite me out on Wednesday for the album’s release party, where I got to experience the album in full in Dolby Atmos. For “Scream Warriors,” LVCRFT teamed up with legendary horror film composer Christopher Young, whose film credits include “Hellraiser,” “A Nightmare On Elm Street 2,” and “Sinister,” so its only fitting that we got to experience it in a theater. While the group has built its reputation on Halloween pop bangers, this album goes in an all-new direction for the group. For this album, they set out to make, “the most terrifying album ever made.”
“In the past, our music was fun and jaunty – think ‘I Put A Spell On You’ or ‘Somebody’s Watching Me,'” says producer Peter Wade, AKA Norman Crates. “This year we, wanted to create something truly scary.”
While the album still features at least one track that will feel like the LVCRFT albums of the last few years, what they’ve crafted in “Scream Warriors” is a 40-minute immersive album experience unlike any other. Each LVCRFT track is strung together with the connective tissue of the terrifying orchestrations and interludes of Christopher Young, with each eerie soundscape moving the album along from one track to the next. At the release party, we experienced the entire album in the dark, and it truly felt like we were listening to the score of a horror film. Which, to some degree, the group set out to do.
“Think of the album as a soundtrack to a horror film that hasn’t been made yet,” comments LVCRFT songwriter Evan Kidd Bogart, AKA Lil’ Punkin. “We really tried to create a listening experience that was groundbreaking and pushed the boundaries of an audio-visual listening experience. We wrote the music and then collaborated with Christopher and his team to orchestrate and sound design a universe of sonics that fully support the album’s story narrative – before, after, in between, and even within our songs.”
This doesn’t mean the new album won’t have you moving. Despite its soundtrack-like feel, there are still plenty of grooves that will move you during the experience. I found myself repeatedly bobbing my head and moving to the best throughout the listening experience. Admittedly, LVCRFT’s fourth album may come as a shock to those who have come to expect a new batch of tracks in the vein of the group’s hits like “Skeleton Sam” or “Spooky Scary Skeletons” each Halloween season. I also think that folks who haven’t historically been fans of LVCRFT may find that they enjoy “Scream Warriors.” For this album, the group took their love of horror, Halloween, and, most importantly, music and tried to craft something truly groundbreaking, and I think they achieved that. I only wish all of you could experience it in Dolby Atmos the way I did so that you could be fully immersed in the listening experience. It will admittedly not be for everyone, but on Friday, I invite you to grab the album, put on your headphones, crank up the volume, turn out the lights and experience the album in its entirety at least once. Even if it’s not your cup of tea, I guarantee the experience will put you in the Halloween mood.
“Scream Warriors” arrives wherever you buy or stream music on Friday, September 30. You can pre-save it to your favorite streaming service now.
