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The Death Wheelers – Album Review

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The Death Wheelers – Ecstasy of Möld 

RidingEasy Records 

Release date: 07/03/2025 

Running time: 30 mins approx 

Review by: Alun Jones 

8.75/10 

Mold is a small, quaint market town in the north east region of Wales.  Typical of settlements in this Celtic country, it has roots going back may hundreds of years.  Nowadays, there are numerous good pubs and restaurants and a really good record shop (among many other businesses).  Though why The Death Wheelers decided to write an album dedicated to the town, I have no idea.  Mold is, however, only the English name – in Welsh it is Yr Wyddgrug, which sounds much more metal. 

“Ecstasy of Möld” is a new album by The Death Wheelers, their fourth for RidingEasy Records.  They originate from Quebec, and if you’re not familiar with the band, they create hard rockin’ instrumentals that sound like a soundtrack for a long lost, scuzzy grindhouse flick about zombie bikers. 

Following  the short first track ‘Loud Pipes Take Lives’, which sets out the style template succinctly, we have ‘Homicycle Maniacs’.  It’s a full on, throttle revving gas guzzler not a million miles away from Motorhead or even Entombed.  Other tracks such as ‘Hella Hammered’ and ‘Blood, Bikes and Barbiturates’ are variations on the same inspirations, interjected with samples from obscure motorcycle exploitation movies. 

It’s all very cool, and the instrumental nature of the songs adds a whole different layer of gonzoid escapism.  Some different avenues are explored at points, such as the title track’s outro which shimmers with a surf guitar sound.  ‘The Heretic Rites of Count Choppula’ slows to rumbling doom metal, and the last song ‘Get Laid… To Rest’ ends on a more sombre, mellow note. 

With Ecstasy of Möld, The Death Wheelers have delivered an album that roars along the highway and easily retains the listener’s attention, vocals be damned.  ‘Cos let’s be honest, the singer is always the least important member of any band.  This album has a sleezy charm and plenty of fuel in the tank, I suggest you take it for a spin. 

Check out The Death Wheelers on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify and Bandcamp.

This review is presented by Platinum Al in association with Ever Metal.

Halloween Horror Fest on Wheels

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Well that’s it, it’s November – and my month of watching spooky movies for Halloween Horror Fest 2020 is at an end. Yet don’t be distraught, dear reader – here are the mini reviews of the movies I’ve watched, but not written up till now. Starting with something truly shocking…

Poltergeist (1982)

Shockingly bad, that is. I remember seeing this film in my teens, it scared the crap out of me. I was looking forward to revisiting Poltergeist, widely regarded as a classic horror film – but it was absolutely terrible.

The story centres on a pleasant, well-off family living in a new Californian housing development. It’s all lovely and cutesy-pie until the youngest child starts communicating with ghosts through the TV screen. Then it’s unbelievable jeopardy time, as the little girl is kidnapped by the spirits and taken away to ghost land.

Poltergeist starts well, with some interesting supernatural phenomena in the first 20 minutes. But it quickly abandons any subtlety in favour of big, dumb Hollywood spectacle: and the sheer ridiculousness of it renders the film not scary at all. In fact, I was bored 45 minutes in. A couple of jumpy moments, but very silly and very disappointing.

Compare Poltergeist to The Exorcist, and the latter film – though employing some shock tactics – is far more believable: it seems more real. The Exorcist is still a damn scary movie, and Poltergeist just isn’t.

All very strange, you may think, knowing that Poltergeist was directed by Tobe Hooper, who made the genuinely terrifying Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Unfortunately, someone Spielberged all over this film, leaving a twee load of nonsense and small town USA schmaltz. Old Stevie was involved as writer, producer, possibly even director and tea lady – and his influence shows.

You’d be better off watching the old BBC gem Ghost Watch, that’s far better.

4/10

The Howling (1981)

Another early 80’s horror – and although this one is also somewhat dated, The Howling is actually a pretty cool film.

Karen White (Dee Wallace) is a news reporter, who has a too-close for comfort encounter with a serial killer she’s investigating. To aid her recovery from the trauma, Karen’s therapist Dr Waggner (Patrick Macnee) recommends she recuperates at the The Colony, a remote health resort. Little does Karen realise that the other residents are hiding a secret…

Directed by Joe Dante, The Howling is a very entertaining film. Despite the werewolf transformation scenes now looking a little dated, the overall design and atmosphere are excellent. It also has some humour, a bit of raunch, and plenty of tension to keep everything rolling along quickly.

Released the same year as An American Werewolf in London, The Howling is sadly nowhere near as good as the John Landis classic. American Werewolf is still more terrifying by far. But The Howling is a great popcorn horror for a Halloween evening.

8.5/10

Werewolves on Wheels (1971)

More lycanthropic fun next, with this uber cult horror movie that does exactly what it says on the blood stained tin. Seriously, do I need to summarise the plot for this one?

Here goes: a gang of rowdy bikers – The Devil’s Advocates, no less – have a run in with a Satanic cult, which results in one of them becoming a werewolf. Much bloody carnage ensues. And that’s it.

Cheap and cheesy, this grindhouse exploitation flick is one of my recently discovered favourites. Like a horror version of Easy Rider, it’s certainly a product of it’s time – don’t watch this if high production values and modern Hollywood set pieces are your thing. Tom Cruise fans, walk away now.

The soundtrack is absolutely brilliant however, and the satanic ritual looks pretty grim. If you can forgive the atrocious wolfman make-up, you’ll find a lot to love here. Werewolves on Wheels is a low quality B-movie genre mash up that’s a work of art for any freaks like me.

9/10

And there you go, horror fans – another batch of movies with bite for this year’s Halloween Horror Fest! I’ll be back next October, so long as this pandemic doesn’t blossom into a full-on zombie apocalypse. See you then!