Finland’s The Ghoulstars are not here to politely tap on the coffin lid. They are kicking it open, dragging a stack of old VHS tapes behind them, cranking the riffs, and throwing listeners head first into a world of horror punk, metal, cult cinema, big choruses and glorious B movie madness.

Their debut album, The Dark Overlords of the Universe, lands May 15 through Season of Mist, and while it may be the first full length release under The Ghoulstars name, this is by no means a group of newcomers finding their feet. Led by Markus “Daddy Ghoul” Laakso on guitars, the band brings together seasoned Finnish heavy music talent with roots running through Kuolemanlaakso, Hooded Menace, Thermate and more. But with The Ghoulstars, the mission is a little different. This is heavy music with blood on its hands, popcorn on the floor, and a grin on its face.

Speaking with Crannk, Markus traced the whole thing back to the music and movies that first grabbed him as a kid growing up in Kuopio, Finland. Before the darkness got heavier and the riffs got nastier, there was Kiss.

“Kiss was probably my first love for music,” Markus said, remembering the records that filled his early years. Alongside Kiss came W.A.S.P., Twisted Sister, Mötley Crüe and Scorpions, bands he jokingly described as almost like children’s music in Finland at the time because so many kids around him were listening to them.

From there, things naturally got heavier, stranger and more dangerous. By the time Markus was around 13 or 14, The Misfits had made a massive impact on him, and that connection between punk, horror and identity began to take shape.

That love of horror did not come from a clean, curated streaming library either. It came from the hunt.

During the late 80s and early 90s in Finland, Markus grew up in a time when certain films were censored or difficult to find uncut. That only made them more fascinating. He began searching for uncensored horror and sci fi VHS tapes, eventually building a collection of hundreds. Evil Dead, Peter Jackson’s Braindead, Sam Raimi, Lucio Fulci, Italian zombie films, cannibal films, A Nightmare on Elm Street, psychological horror and science fiction all became part of the world that would eventually feed The Ghoulstars.

Like many of us from that VHS and video store generation, Markus has since bought the same films over and over again across different formats. The original tapes may mostly be gone now, passed on to a collector friend rather than sold off at a flea market, but the obsession never left.

That is the thing with The Ghoulstars. This does not feel like a band grabbing horror imagery because it looks cool. It feels like a lifetime of music, films, posters, tape covers, weird samples and cult references finally being let loose in one place.

The actual spark for the band came after a very different kind of musical experience. Markus had been working on Kuolemanlaakso’s Kuusumu, a record that came with a stressful recording process, technical issues and more difficult material than previous albums. After finishing that session, he took a road trip with his family and, for whatever reason, put on Venom’s first album.

That was the lightbulb moment.

Listening to that raw, attitude soaked Venom energy, Markus found himself drawn to the immediacy of it. Three guys, rough edges intact, but with songs and attitude that kicked hard. When he got home, he challenged himself to write ten songs in ten days. Life got in the way slightly, but he still managed eight songs in nine days, with many of them ending up on The Dark Overlords of the Universe.

The first song written was “Vampire,” where Markus says you can hear traces of Venom and early Celtic Frost. The next day came “Graverobbers from Outer Space,” which pushed much harder into horror punk territory. From there, the project kept growing as Markus added more influences to keep things exciting for himself. At first, there was no grand plan for world domination. Then the songs started sounding too good to sit on a hard drive.

So he called some friends, got them into his home studio, cracked some beers, played them the demos, and The Ghoulstars became a real band.

What makes that story even cooler is that The Ghoulstars were already playing live before releasing a single second of music. In a world where bands often drop tracks before anyone knows who they are, this group came crawling out of the crypt already looking and feeling like a fully formed creature.

The first big taste for many listeners was “Too Ghoul for School,” a track packed with 80s high school rebellion, horror punk hooks and tongue in cheek attitude. The video also came with a brilliant bit of Finnish metal history: Alexi Laiho’s former Cadillac.

There is a lyric in the song that references sitting back in a Cadillac, and because Cadillacs are not exactly common in Finland, Markus started thinking about who might have one. He remembered a collector he knew who owned the former Cadillac of the late Children of Bodom legend Alexi Laiho. One phone call later, the car was in the video.

Adding to the nostalgia, much of that clip was shot at Markus’ former high school, a place he had not been back to in a long time. The song also ties into his memories of living in San Diego, California as a young teenager, along with his love of 80s coming of age films. Think the nerds, the cool kids, the jocks, the bad guys, the teachers, and all those exaggerated characters that made those films feel like cartoons in the best possible way.

That cartoon energy runs right through The Ghoulstars, but it is never lazy. There are layers everywhere. Markus talked about Easter eggs in the lyrics and music, with nods that can jump from Snoop Dogg to Wayne’s World to The Ballroom Blitz scene with Tia Carrere. For those who grew up on that same pop culture chaos, the references feel like little rewards scattered through the record.

And that is where The Dark Overlords of the Universe really hits. It is fun, yes, but it is not empty. The songs are packed with hooks, but the arrangements are full of clever touches. Across the album you get horror punk, classic metal, punk rock, surf rhythms, western atmosphere, doomy weight, death metal flavour and full B movie theatrics. It is the kind of album that can have you banging your head within ten seconds, then laughing at a perfectly placed monster movie sample or cinematic detail moments later.

The title track itself has already drawn some unexpected comparisons. Markus said someone online described it as “Gloryhammer, but with ghouls,” which amused him enough that he went and checked Gloryhammer out for himself. In his own head, though, the song began with the chorus melody, which locked perfectly into the phrase “We are the dark overlords of the universe.” When writing it, he was actually thinking more along the lines of In Flames.

That mix of reference points says a lot about the record. The Ghoulstars are not boxed into one lane. “Too Ghoul for School” comes in with that punky 80s teen movie punch, “Graverobbers from Outer Space” leans into Ed Wood inspired horror punk weirdness, and the title track goes bigger and more melodic without losing the monster stomp.

The album artwork and physical release are also a major part of the experience for Markus. As someone who clearly still values the full package, he spoke with real excitement about the vinyl gatefold, the back cover, the band image, the lyric insert and the whole visual world around the release. For an album so tied to cult films, video covers and old school discovery, that makes perfect sense. This is the kind of record that wants to be held, stared at, flipped over and explored.

One of the standout deep cuts Markus and I spoke about was “The Ballad of the Cursed Bandit,” a track that plays like a miniature western movie. He mentioned horse samples, train sounds, six shooters and what he called basically a “horse solo.” It is one of those moments where The Ghoulstars stop feeling like just a band and start feeling like a soundtrack to a movie that only exists in your head.

That cinematic feel is very deliberate. Markus wanted the album to be short, sharp and replayable rather than exhausting. At just over half an hour, The Dark Overlords of the Universe has that perfect punk rock economy. It hits, it hooks you, it ends before wearing out its welcome, and then you want to go straight back to the start.

Behind all the madness, the recording process was spread across different locations. Markus recorded a lot of the material in his own home studio, including guitars, lead vocals and percussion. Bass was split between locations, and vocals were also recorded with Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns of Finntroll and …and Oceans, who appears on the record as a guest.

The final mix and master came from V. Santura of Triptykon, someone Markus has worked with many times before. By his count, he has made four albums and two EPs with Santura before this release, making him one of Markus’ key creative partners. Markus described that connection as almost mental, with Santura instantly understanding what he is trying to accomplish.

That relationship matters because this is not a simple sounding record. It needs to be heavy without becoming too polished, funny without becoming flimsy, theatrical without turning into parody, and catchy without losing the grit. Santura understood the assignment, and even sent Markus a message praising the videos, especially “Graverobbers from Outer Space,” which he described in spirit as somehow both ten out of ten and zero out of ten at the same time. For a band like The Ghoulstars, that might be the perfect compliment.

That is the charm of this whole thing. The Ghoulstars are proudly ridiculous, but they are not careless. They are having fun, but the songs are built properly. The references are wild, but the hooks stick. The horror masks are on, but underneath them are players who know exactly what they are doing.

By the end of our chat, Markus summed it up perfectly. He is proud of the album and wants people to check out the whole thing, especially if they are into nostalgic stuff, horror movies, sci fi and fun heavy music connected to all of the above.

And honestly, that is exactly what The Dark Overlords of the Universe delivers.

It is horror punk for VHS kids. It is metal for cult movie obsessives. It is a debut album from a band that already feels like it has its own world, its own rules, and its own undead sense of humour.

The Ghoulstars Lineup

Markus “Daddy Ghoul” Laakso – Guitars
Toni “Ghoulio” Ronkainen – Drums
Arthur “LL Ghoul A” Thure – Vocals
Markus “Hella Ghoul” Makkonen – Bass

Watch The Latest Film Clip

The Ghoulstars have also dropped the latest film clip and single, “The Dark Overlords of the Universe” featuring Tuple Salmela, giving fans another wild look into the band’s horror punk, sci fi and B movie soaked world.

Watch The Ghoulstars – The Dark Overlords of the Universe feat. Tuple Salmela here: