Carnival From Hell: Review of Fun Factory (2021)

When I was a kid, I loved going to Blockbuster. I was always fascinated with the covers of the video tapes and would always pick out the scariest or weirdest thing I could find. Now, did my mother let me rent these tapes? That’s another story. But the cover of Slaughterhouse’s “Fun Factory” grabbed my attention with its creepy art of a sideshow from Hell.

Slaughterhouse’s debut release, “Fun Factory”, is a hard dose of melodramatic punk that thrashes in moments. The album opens with “TV Age”; a deep bass driven tune that runs on lead singer Veronica Molidor’s chaotic but soothing voice. The band is made up with four members, Nick Aguilar (drummer), Eddie Cairns (bass), Taylor Ramirez (guitar), and Veronica on vocals. Leading off the brooding opener, “The Rat” presents a classic type of punk verbiage that’s faster, meaner, and leaner with a tightened instrumental act. During the whole 32-minute runtime, I found myself thinking about The Cure’s “Pornography”. Not because Slaughterhouse sounds like The Cure, far from it. But “Fun Factory” gives off this dreadful, dark, and chaotic tone that took me into the depths of Hell to meet Satan himself. It was like walking into a demented circus with Veronica as the ringleader with ominous calls and screams that the band builds on with the riffs, bass lines, and beats. By no means is this debut album perfect; it’s not. I did find myself becoming slightly dazed at the constant moody tone that could have benefited with more instrumental breakdowns. However, this album presents its themes well while the band sounding tight, no bullshit. Slaughterhouse is not your typical punk band. They aren’t poppy nor are they so chaotic that only the most niche of audiences can grasp their music. The band’s sound is stuck in this hellish limbo of dark paranoia and guilt. This debut does what the cover illustrates perfectly; it takes you on a demented trip down carnival way that’s filled with the weird and macabre. I recommend giving this album a listen if you are a punk/hard rock fan or are just in a really, really, dark mood and need something to drag you into the hellish show of “Fun Factory”.