What’s happened to deathrock/ horror punk?

Is it still a thing and I’m just missing it/ looking in the wrong places? I feel like it doesn’t really exist anymore, or has it really existed?

This is just me thinking out loud, I am in no way an expert or know a lot of information.

So The Misfits, the original the creators, then you get most notably The Undead, Screaming Dead, The Damned, T.S.O.L, Samhain, Graves, Son of Sam, AFI. There is obviously more too, a lot of these styles of bands come from ex Misfits members or people associated with Misfits. A handful of these get some or most of their fame from various connections to hardcore scenes so theres a reason why bands like The Misfits, The Damned, Samhain, AFI and Son of Sam are the most know or thats how it seems/ I see it. From the looks of it, the glory days of this genre start in the 80’s and die in the early 2000’s.

Why did this never carry on, people love horror right?

Later on I guess theres more nu metal/ metal bands like Slipknot, Murderdolls, Marilyn Manson shit like that, its that it? is that what it evolved into? Then expanding into things like witch house? I like some witch house stuff and i’m a fan of Ghost as much as the next dude but I want more, I want true horror punk/ deathrock.

I started to think of this because an old UK band called Send More Paramedics recently got an instagram account which made me re listen because it had been some time, fuck it still slaps! Haunting, Fast, hard, thrashy with breakdowns and guitar solos.

I love this band so much, they were amazing live too, dressed in full zombie get up with fake blood it was wild. They stood out because there wasn’t anything else like this at the time, playing along side or headlining above hardcore bands, it never seemed out of place when in reality it kind of was. These guys where probably the last horror punk band I knew about/listened too. They didn’t last that long if I remember correctly their last release was 2006, I remember seeing them a couple of times after that so they maybe died off 2009ish? reforming for a reunion in 2014. That was it. . . . .

Then recently while making some one x shot interviews I came across Ghouli, a band out of Richmond, Virginia with influences in some old school horror punk in the likes of The Misfits and T.S.O.L. It’s nice take on the horror punk sound while putting their own flavour into it.

Another band I cam across was Final Gasp, a side project made up of members from Antagonize, this is Samhain worship and its fucking amazing!

The hardcore world needs more bands like these! people always credit and even sometimes cover The Misfits but no one ever commits to horror punk, it’s a cool style of punk and hardcore world, are people too afraid to commit to genre you don’t have to go all out and dress up. . . . .I guess, do people find it too gimmicky? or is it not cool?, maybe there is more bands and I just don’t know about them?

Footnotes: All photos are pulled from the various discog’s pages, I do not own the right to any of them. Hit me up with good horror punk bands.