The leaves are dying, the weather is turning and last night no shortage of demons, devils and ghouls came knocking on my door…Halloween? No, the new Those Poor Bastards album, Satan Is Watching (the official soundtrack for Halloween) showed up.

Satan is Watching is the second album Those Poor Bastards have released this year and it’s easily the better of the two and could make a decent argument for being their best album to date. I’ve described TPB in the past as such:

“Imagine Death himself plopping his ass down at your campfire with his pal and band mate, Desperation, and they break out in song. what do you think that would sound like? I am gonna say Those Poor Bastards is pretty fucking close.”

While the framework of this album is prototypical TPB, there seems to be a greater focus on beats and grooves than there has been on the past few efforts. One of the highlights of the album has to be their cover of Cash’s “I Walk The Line”. The Minister and Lonesome manage to take this lovely proclamation of love and turn it into something wholly different, and with little more than a change in delivery it almost becomes a rally song for stalkers far and near. I gotta say, I love it.

Back in March I declared The Plague as Essential Listening and now, a mere 5 month’s later, I gotta declare Satan Is Watching to be the same god damned thing.

Those Poor Bastards - I Walk The Line
Those Poor Bastards - The Bright Side
Those Poor Bastards - Crooked Man

Those Poor Bastards Official Site, Those Poor Bastards on myspace, Buy Satan Is Watching