Rocket From The Crypt: Speedo (vocals, guitar); ND (guitar); Apollo 9 (saxophone); JC2000 (trumpet); Petey X (bass); Atom (drums).

Additional personnel: Mick Collins, Frank Daly (vocals); Eric Christian (guitar); Don Palmer, Jay Rosen (violin); James Ross (viola); Raymond Kelley (cello); John Reis, Sr. (accordion); Geoff Harrington (Hammond B-3 organ); Diane Gordon, Natalie Burks, Latina Webb, Roger Freeland, Gene Miller, Joseph Pizzulo (background vocals).

Recorded in early 1995.

With the gleeful, overwhelming fury of a runaway train, Rocket From The Crypt's second major-label album, SCREAM, DRACULA, SCREAM!, proves there is still some fight left in guitar-rock's supposedly decomposing body, that three chords and a furious pace can still be a road-map to some twisted version of salvation, and that, regardless of what even the album's liner notes tell you, punk rock is not dead. Spurred on by a two-man horn section that seemingly learned to play by listening to STICKY FINGERS-era Stones, RFTC embrace rock's leather-clad traditions--from Eddie Cochran to The Ramones--with a rambunctious, all-or-nothin' attitude.

So, of course the songs are anthemic, with very-rock-and-roll lyrics that both the young and the young-at-heart can shout in rebellion--the priceless chorus of "Born In '69" goes: "I want it/I need it/I steal it/ALL RIGHT!!!" But the songs never descend into watered-down formulas. That's because RFTC also have a grasp of where the noise they're harnessing comes from. Touches of Spectorian production, lyrical and musical allusions to The Stooges, and a JB-like tightness o' groove all litter SCREAM, DRACULA, SCREAM!'s landscape--turning what seems to be so simple into much, much more.

Rolling Stone (11/16/95, p.111) - 3 Stars - Good - "...On SCREAM, Rocket roll up their sleeves and dig deep into the blue-collar essence of the Clash, Springsteen, Zeppelin and various '50s rockers. Rocket apply it to their own world--one where factories have been replaced by minimalls..."

Spin (12/95, pp.120-122) - 7 - Flawed Yet Worthy - "...a punk with many rooms, based as much in showy blues as rough-hewn noise, stretching from Ramonesy surf to Scratch Acid rant to Husker Du plaint....catchy, polished and musically varied....in songcraft and production surpasses their earlier work..."

Q (2/96, p.99) - 4 Stars - Excellent - "...caustic, garage-band energy and musical swagger..."

Option (1-2/96, p.112) - "...an excellent reminder that despite all the tortured hyphenates and geographical shorthand that get dribbled around describing music in the '90s, when the sound really blasts off, it's still rock'n'roll..."

Melody Maker (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #39 on Melody Maker's list of 1996's `Albums Of The Year.'

Melody Maker (1/27/96, p.35) - Bloody Essential - "...As a search'n'destroy, punk'n'roll suicide squad, these reprobates create the blazing myth which infuses every musical-led second of this album....tunes that could flatten meteorites....Rocket...manage to keep entertainment to the fore..."

NME (Magazine) (12/21-28/96, pp.66-67) - Ranked #9 in NME's 1996 critic's poll.

NME (Magazine) (1/27/96, p.41) - 8 (out of 10) - "...SCREAM, DRACULA, SCREAM! is like one mighty, all-four-wheels-spinning burn-up head-on to oblivion....This is back-to-basics rock so good that it obliterates all memory of anything that ever happened to necessitate its homecoming..."