Just when you thought the madness had at Shows in Tompkins Square Park peaked—after Skitzopolis melted brains and the Nihilistics carved out souls —the *fourth* wave hit. And it didn’t hit with a scream or a snarl. No, The Coffin Daggers rolled in like a sonic tsunami from some cursed beach where Dick Dale was buried with a switchblade in his hand and a tremolo bar in his mouth.
They didn’t need vocals. The guitars *spoke in tongues*.
The first note punched a hole through the atmosphere. The second peeled the enamel off my molars. By the third, I was convulsing in place with a dumb grin on my face and my brain somewhere between Coney Island and the outer rings of Saturn.
The Coffin Daggers don’t *play* songs—they *conduct* hauntings. Think Link Wray fed through a broken theremin and shot out the tailpipe of a dragster doing 140 past a cemetery. There were hints of Henry Mancini’s elegance, sure—but sliced up, rearranged, and soaked in vintage horror slime.
The pit? Confused at first. You can’t slam-dance to surf punk, right? Wrong. They *did it anyway*. A swirling mix of dazed crusties, shirtless dads, and one guy in a luchador mask crowd-surfing to instrumental vengeance. Dogs howled. Toddlers pogoed. One old lady on a park bench nodded along like she was watching the end of the world and had made peace with it.
The sun was almost gone by then, dipping behind the buildings like it, too, was trying to escape the reverb tank. The Coffin Daggers never said a word, but they didn’t need to. Every note was a sermon, every riff a reminder that horror isn’t just blood and gore—it’s *groove*, baby.
When it ended, I blinked and realized I’d been dancing with an open bag of Cheez Doodles and a beer I don’t remember buying. My legs ached. My soul buzzed. The entire park stood stunned—like we’d just been abducted, probed by sound, and gently deposited back on Earth.
More bands coming? I’m not sure I can feel feelings anymore. But I’ll keep typing till the beer runs out or my hands fall off – but i have a flight to catch in 5h – so my next words will reach you from the caribbean… 😎🤟🍻