Wednesday 13 – Mid Death Crisis (Album Review)

The long reigning so-called ‘Duke of Spook’ makes a glorious, blood-soaked comeback with a commanding album bursting with chugging, fist-pumping anthems.

Joseph Michael Poole, known by his stage name Wednesday 13, has been an iconic staple of the horror punk scene since debuting as the vocalist of his first band in 1992 in North Carolina. After building up a multifaceted repertoire of music through his time as vocalist and frontman of bands like Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 and a partnership with Slipknot’s Joey Jordison in Murderdolls, the singer soon focussed on a solo career. The artist’s most recent solo output ‘Mid Death Crisis’, whose title is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the singer approaching his fifties, contains 12 riotous and outrageously fun tracks that will delight listeners young and old. Released just after a stint of successful shows around the globe celebrating the music of Murderdolls, audiences will find that much of the aggressive attitude and razor sharp riffs have translated well onto this album.

The album is introduced through the deeply atmospheric ‘There’s No Such Thing As Monsters’; a spoken intro that features Wednesday’s voice distorted and warped into a sinister whisper that rousingly calls to the artist’s legions of loyal listeners. After this, ‘Decease and Desist’ thunders in on a furious chorus of guitars and a pounding percussive beat before launching into the track’s punchy main riff. Wednesday 13’s unmistakably savage vocals power this forceful blood-fest, which unleashes a torrent of roaring horror-rock into listeners’ ears. This is what the vocalist does best: delivering an addictive blend of heavy punk-rock and gruff vocals as well as some particularly memorable lyrics (“Creature feature, Victims of the night!”).

The bombastic ‘When the Devil Commands’ begins with a chugging opening riff that sets the scene for this mid-tempo rock bop. The song’s lyrics are gloomy but in Wednesday’s sly fashion, with the vocalist choking out the pre-chorus’ catchy refrain “The devil made me do it, I’ll do it again”; crafting a rebellious anthem for audiences to passionately chant along to. ‘Rotting Away’ also picks up on this boisterous energy that makes the singer’s songs so great, but this time providing audiences with a triumphant ‘hate anthem’ that celebrates the downfall of an enemy (“I can’t wait til you’re in your grave and you’re cold and rotting away”).

The album’s only guest featuring track, ‘No Apologies’ featuring Taime Downe from band Faster Pussycat, is a riotously upbeat affair that buzzes with Wednesday and Taime’s electric synergy and back and forth vocals that is sure to leave fans thrilled. Wednesday delightfully dresses down an opponent in typical sardonic fashion (“I’ve got no apologies, you won’t hear sorry from me”), as energetic guitars duel in the background. Similarly, Wednesday voices his distaste for someone on sixth track ‘Decapitation’, which ironically may be the album’s sonically brightest track. Amidst bouncy guitars, Wednesday’s fevered growls stutter the title before transitioning into a trippy surf-rock post-chorus. It’s fun all round.

The eerily brooding guitar intro to the album’s second single ‘In Misery’ thrillingly crescendos into an intensely melodic main riff that is sure to leave listeners’ hair standing on end. The song is crowned with an ear-worm chorus that combines the song’s gloomy soundscape with some equally impressionable lyrics that tell of the singer’s damaging infatuation with a toxic relationship (“We’re the worst thing for each other… I always knew we were meant to be”).

‘Blood Storm’ rushes in like a freight train with its fevered tempo and its stirring “Whoa-whoa” calls that punctuate a punkish chorus which is brought alive by the singer’s impassioned cries. ‘Xanaxtasy’ carries the same kind of energy and unruly spirit that the vocalist pulls off with his gravelly screams and abundance of attitude. The lyrics are as singable as ever (“Am I insane? Or am I just crazy”); providing the perfect opportunity for fans to let loose and mindlessly rock out. Additionally, the thumping beat and irrepressible chorus of ‘I Hurt You’ (“There’s no one that hurts you, the way that I hurt you”) may very well be a new fan favourite and will have audiences pumping their fists in droves.

The Duke of Spook dreams of death as the way to escape the hardships and annoyances of life on the darkly comedic ‘My Funeral’, which puts the singer’s colourful lyricism centre stage (“It’s a good day to die and it’s a wonderful life”), which oozes with the devilish melodrama that has been known to make Wednesday 13 such a great showman and performer.

In typical Wednesday fashion, the singer closes ‘Mid Death Crisis’ with one of the wildest hate anthems on the album in ‘Sick and Violent’, which is led by a furious riff and a breakneck tempo; signalling to fans that just because the singer is approaching middle age, the spark that he ignited 20 years ago is still alive and will continue to burn for many years to come.

Score/Outstanding: Wednesday 13’s career has been long and immensely rewarding, and with ‘Mid Death Crisis’ the singer proves that he hasn’t lost his music’s most attractive quality – it’s fun as hell.

[We rank albums, E.Ps and singles on a scale of Poor, Mediocre, Good, Excellent, Outstanding]

Follow Wednesday 13 on:
Instagram
Twitter