:: Wednesday 13 - Skeletons

Wednesday 13

In what must amount to a relentless work ethic, ex-Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13/Murderdolls front man Wednesday 13 is back with his third full-length solo effort ‘Skeletons’ - follow-up to his solid ‘Fang Bang’ from 2006. In the past, Wednesday 13’s sound could have been described as a mix of ‘80’s hard rock (‘Trash’ era Alice Cooper comes to mind) and infectious/camp B-grade horror lyrics/melodies (The Misfits). But on his latest effort, Wednesday 13 has taken a different direction, with ‘Skeletons’ based more on personal themes on the lyrical side of things, while the music seems to have taken on a more serious slant in places. And it doesn’t take long for Wednesday 13’s new musical direction to unmask itself either, with the opening track ‘Scream Baby Scream’ delving into the industrial side of things, with the song sounding reminiscent of White Zombie/Rob Zombie. The jagged riffing and militaristic drumming from the Wednesday 13 and his band is somewhat different sounding, but not entirely unfitting.

‘Not Another Teenage Anthem’ and the fast paced ‘Gimmie Gimmie Bloodshed’ are typically Wednesday 13 sounding, and could have easily been lifted off ‘Fang Bang’, while the hard rocking ‘From Here To The Hearse’ has Wednesday 13 channelling latter day Alice Cooper for the most part. The darker and heavier ‘Put Your Death Mask On’ revisits the industrialised sounds that were heard on the opening track, while the title track ‘Skeletons’ and the rather dour ballad-like ‘My Demise’ see Wednesday 13 attempting to plough new territory to some extent. While Wednesday 13 can be praised for trying something new, it has to be said that the latter two tracks tend to be a little on the longer side, and tends to suffer from the lack of editing. The rousing ‘With Friends Like These’, ‘All American Massacre’ and ‘No Rabbit In The Hat’ sees Wednesday 13 return to familiar terrain (If at times, a little too familiar), while the mid-paced ‘Dead Carolina’ finishes up the album.

Wednesday 13 has never been an artist who’s been all that consistent and original, but on ‘Skeletons’, he’s at least made some attempt to venture outside his comfort zone and reinvent his trademark sound. And while not all of it works (Consistency is certainly an issue given the change of direction on some of the songs compared to his standard formula), fans will no doubt embrace the album for the most part.