El Punkeke and the Radio Apocalyx have a scary album cover – a skull and crossbones that looks to be half rotting flesh and half computer. The inside of the album cover is scary as well, featuring photos of the band in action, clad in full Goth-punk regalia, bloody lips, beet-red hair, mohawks, tattoos, cut-off T-shirts and multiple upper-nose piercings.

Oh, and the music on the album is scary in a Red Dawn meets Left Behind sort of way.
"Karavana Horror Disko" is an intriguing mix of rock, electronica, screamo and punk. It's the evil love child of Prodigy, Nine Inch Nails and Martin Luther King, Jr. – a masochistic album that, if it were a person, would give a compelling speech at the Lincoln Memorial to end poverty while wearing a bloody goat's head around its neck.

The multicultural influence of lead singer, Gustavo Panke, who originally hails from Argentina, also plays in local bands Apocalypse Theatre and El Punkeke and The Aliens, shines through on this album. There are moments of brilliance when Panke combines heavy metal with Spanish lyrics and vocal overdubs of a faux-president giving apocalyptic orders to a nation.
The album's high point occurs on the fifth track, an instrumental composition that features a Latin beat overlayed with surf guitars and African tribal rhythms.

Despite the scariness of the album, Panke seems to be an upstanding member of the community – he included a handwritten note of appreciation in his promotional packet.
And what's not to like about a bloody, tattooed, pierced guy with such fine manners? TC

www.myspace.com/elpunkekeandtheradioapocalyx