Music in America in the early 2000’s was by and large truly awful in my opinion. Nu Metal was all the rage, Boy bands and pop princesses were everywhere, there were so few good rock bands coming out as it was still a hangover from the 90’s.
I had never heard Wednesday’s prior band Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13, So when Murderdolls debuted I primarily knew it as the side project of Joey Jordison from Slipknot. They looked like a fusion of a glam band meets an industrial band but their sound was like Alice Cooper, Ministry, and The Misfits had a musical child. Horror, Punk, and Glam Metal all thrown in a blender but heavier.
At the time Joey was the most famous member of the band but thanks to Wednesday doing his solo career time would show who the true architect of that bands sound really was. Hell, many Murderdolls songs were re recorded versions of songs he did in his prior band.
The sound fans of Murderdolls loved lived on in the solo career of Wednesday 13, Especially his first three albums: Transylvania 90210, Fang Bang, and Skeletons. He would later go in much heavier directions but the themes would be relatively the same.
Twenty years after his first solo album we have the release of Mid Death Crisis and I’m happy to say this goes back to the sound old fans loved about his music, horror themed sleaze metal in the way Wednesday 13 does best.
“There’s No Such Thing As Monsters” begins ominously with the crackle of vinyl as a drum beat slowly plays with sinister synths, A voice I can only compare to a demonic version of emperor Palpatine from Star Wars repeats the track title throughout. An effective enough lead in to the album.
What follows is “Deceased And Desist” which comes charging out of your speakers like a hound from hell, Energetic riffs charge along to frantic drums. The madness begins and it’s awesome!
“When The Devil Commands” is destined to become a Wednesday 13 classic, I saw the band perform this live in Las Vegas at Counts Vamp’d last month and it was incredible. Chugging riffs and pounding drums dominate this ode to the Devil, The chorus is catchy and the guitar solo here by lead guitarist Ashes is great. Wednesday himself sounding as sinister as ever on this song and album in general.
“Rotting Away” is an incendiary track with blazing guitar riffs, The great frantic pace of this song will have you head banging, the chorus is viscious as Wednesday sings “I can’t wait until you’re in your grave and you’re cold and rotting away” heavy sleaze riffs and concussive drums dominate this song, Definitely one of the best on the album.
“No Apologies” treats fans to a guest vocal from legendary Faster Pussycat frontman Taime Downe and this song is definitely a balls to the walls rocker. This is a song that would make Sister proud. Taime and Wednesday surprisingly compliment each other really well vocally, this song absolutely shreds and the guitar solo is killer.
“Decapitation” doesn’t let down the pace and has a little more of the punk element that Wednesday displayed on his album Fang Bang, powerful riffs and hard hitting drums courtesy of Mike Dupke who does a fantastic job on this album dominates the song. There’s even some oooh oohs and Aahs in the background 50’s style that is unexpected, A short but awesome song.
Next up is “In Misery” which is the second single off of the album and takes things in a different direction than the tracks that preceded it, This one has a lot more of a melodic nature, though still ominous and heavy. I really think this is the track that lets everyone shine most and the band sounds totally locked in, Lyrically this sounds like the sort of anti love song Gomez Addams would write for Morticia. Sort of a romanticized misery. In any case this song is catchy as hell.
“Blood Storm” cranks the heaviness back up with some heavy horror punk that would do The Misfits proud, This song rages from start to finish and deserves to be played as loud as possible. One of my personal favorites on the album.
“Xanaxtasy” goes more in the hard rock direction, a decent enough track in its own right if not quite at the level of the rest up to this point.
“I Hurt You” is more of a mid tempo rocker which allows Wednesday’s vocals to take on a bit more of a melodic tone, The acoustic break during the song is a welcome interlude in an otherwise captivating rocker.
“My Funeral” kind of feels a bit similar to “When The Devil Commands” in its riffs and guitar rhythm during the verses, still a good track but at this point feels like all of this has been done in the tracks prior to this song.
“Sick And Violent” picks the pace back up with a satisfying slab of horror sleaze that closes out the album with a bang, This song just kicks your ass and makes you want to come back for more.
When it comes to Wednesday 13 what’s not to love? He’s got going for him several elements that made a few bands legends and he does it well. Combining sleaze metal with punk, heavy metal, and horror when done effectively is nothing short of great and Wednesday does it better than most.
Mid Death Crisis is one of his best albums in any band he’s been in solo or otherwise, If you love his music you know what you’re in for. But for the uninitiated you’ll find a great introduction to his music with this album. Definitely one of the best rock albums you’ll hear this year.
8.5/10
