I was just thinking about how Ghost Scorpion were falling behind their pattern of one release per year. "Boss Metal Zone" is pretty recognizably Ghost Scorpion material: lo-fi, ragged guitar at a pretty quick tempo. They do it well and they do it here as well as they ever have. "Straight to Darkness" is probably the highlight for me, but by such a narrow margin it might be overtaken with more listens.

Speaking of listens, you should listen! It's pay-what-you-want

Reading their facebook page, I'm having a hard time telling whether this is a farewell EP or if Sonic Nightmare is merely saying they're dead for the purposes of a Halloween EP. Either way, I do have things left unsaid: I never made a release notice for their split EP earlier this year. This is predictably some creepin' horror surf, but my favorite is the disjointed and surprisingly danceable "It Comes From the Grave". Free stream, free download, right in time for Halloween.

Genki Genki Panic may have already released an LP this year, but managed to squeeze in another small spooky one before Halloween. Two of these are covers: White Zombie's "Soul Crusher" and a Misfits cover (always appreciate another misfits cover) in "Return of the Fly". The title track "Vaya Con Diablos" is actually a creeping vocal track.

This one's a free download. They do have CDs for sale for a cheap $5. Release date says October 31st but CDs ship Oct 23rd. Yes, that's how you do it!

This is the second LP from The Silicon, and it covers a lot of ground. There's some shredders like "Mysterious Island" and the title track "Tiki Tohoa", and some western tracks like "Road to the Ranch", and I pick up a lot of rautalanka and shadows influence on others. They bill themselves on bandcamp as post-Soviet surf-rock and I can't help but think of the Surfbeat Behind the Iron Curtain compilations. Maybe they should feature on a modern equivalent of that!

Give it a listen!

Par Avion clearly love the surf sound, but don't let it get in the way when they have other ideas. "Unchained Melody" has a great Duane Eddy meets modern-surf twang to it and sets the tone well for the rest of the album. But then the song "Par Avion" has a less motivated, more post-punk melancholy to it. Then the next song features a cello, the next one has a great orchestral spaghetti western sound to it, but then there's a pretty straightforward cover of Misirlou.

A live album from the band that I can't help but think of as "that band with the boobs on the album cover". Great trad sound, really sunny and fun and well-played, with a few sound clips thrown on in-between songs. It definitely does sound live, but that really only becomes a factor on the few vocal songs, where the vocals dwarf the instrumental mix. Otherwise, there's a great energy and bounce to it throughout.

It's up on bandcamp and it's real cheap to purchase.

Las Olas may have a mostly trad sound to them, but they're not exactly going for a sunny SoCal vibe. Like the ashy cover art suggests, this is some dark, hopeless surf. Not necessarily slow and dreary - there are some frantic songs like "violeta", but definitely not smiling at you.

You can stream it on bandcamp, or just download it for free!

I was a big fan of Die Krabben's Welcome to Surf Trash Island released last year, even giving it a Gremmy honorable mention. Mining the Gyre has the same weirdo creepy surf-meets-Beefheart thing going on, with a few good instrumentals, a few essentially surf songs with a deep trollish voice grumbling out lyrics. It's kinda like if Reverend Beat-man had more of a surf angle.

And lucky for us, it's freeeee

After 8 years as a band without so much of an EP to their name, Luau or Die went ahead and made TWO EPs in 2015, almost entirely originals. It's fun, adventurous, and has a good helping of swagger to it. Give it a list, and while you're at it you can check out Vol. 1

Iowa's biggest surf act (probably by default, but by merit too) just dropped a nice live record. The sound is clean, better than plenty of studio albums I've heard. The songs seem to be all over the back catalog, a great place to start if this is your first introduction to the Surf Zombies.

The digital download is nice and cheap, but they've also got a CD that you can buy.