Album review: Wednesday 13 - Skeletons

Wednesday 13 – formerly of the Murderdolls and Frankenstein Dragqueens from Planet 13 – tours a lot and doesn’t like to always have to play the same songs. So he writes a lot of new ones and aims to release an album every year. Because of legal issues with his record company, releasing an album didn’t happen in 2007. That’s why there are two releases in May 2008: Bloodwork EP and the album Skeletons.

Up until now, Wednesday only wrote songs about the devil, zombies, death and other doomy subjects. With a sarcastic ring to the lyrics, they are more funny than scary. Skeletons contains more personal songs, like My Demise, which is a complete first for Wednesday. The album has a darker vibe than the previous two. This becomes clear immediately when you play the first song Scream Baby Scream. It has a heavy metal riff that just blows you away. Gimme Gimme Bloodshed is a lot lighter and more punk.

Halfway through the album the music slows down. Titletrack Skeletons and My Demise are two songs about Wednesday’s life, the last one is about his addiction to alcohol – which he has now beaten. Another more personal song is With Friends Like These, which probably refers to his former bandmates of the Frankenstein Dragqueens, who don’t really get along these days.

Of course Skeletons also contains a lot of songs about death and the devil, like All American Massacre and Dead Carolina. Wednesday likes his songs and albums short. This eleven track release has a running time of only 40 minutes.

Verdict: Skeletons is a little more serious and less sarcastic than it’s predecessors. The personal lyrics fit in well with the regular horror-inspired songs. They prove that Wednesday (whose real name is Joseph Poole) is able to write about more than just zombies.
Imre