One a year, virtually every city in America has at least one local band who puts on skull makeup and plays a set of Misfits covers. It’s always a good time. This year, the San Fernando Valley got an especially good one. Before they became driving forces of bands like God’s Hate and Deadbody, brothers Taylor and Colin Young were the leader of Twitching Tongues, a band who brought big, melodic metal gestures to the hardcore underground. (Former Hatebreed guitar ace Sean Martin was also a member.) Twitching Tongues were inactive for a while, but they came back earlier this year to play festivals like Sound And Fury. This past weekend, Twitching Tongues played a set of Misfits covers. Today, they’ve dropped a new surprise EP of Misfits bangers.

At the home studio known as the Pit, Taylor Young has produced some of the best heavy records of the past few years. Last month, the Pit was unexpectedly evicted, and a GoFundMe campaign has been raising money for Young to relocate his studio. On Saturday, a whole bunch of artists — Drain, Shakewell, Momentum, Vamachara, the Skin Trade — played a benefit for the Pit in the Valley. Twitching Tongues also played that benefit, and that’s where they did their Misfits covers. Today, they’ve released six Misfits covers on the new EP Twitchfits Vol. 1. It’s the last thing that Twitching Tongues recorded at the original Pit, and it’s also the first new Twitching Tongues record since 2018.

This EP is not a joke. Twitching Tongues play these Misfits songs faithfully, putting real muscle into those familiar anthems. You can tell that they’re having fun, but you can also tell that they love these songs. They manage to do “Last Caress” without singing about raping anyone, and they also put their stamp on the canonical racers “Astro Zombies,” “Skulls,” “Where Eagles Dare,” “I Turned Into A Martian,” and of course “Halloween.” Below, stream the EP and check out a video from the show on Saturday.

Twitchfits Vol. 1 is out now on Closed Casket Activities. There are enough Misfits ragers left for at least a couple more volumes, too.