Women and Children Last

Before anyone gets irritated with me please note "Women and Children Last" is the title for the new Murderdolls CD which just so happens to be what I'm reviewing, right here and right now.

It's great to see Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13 back doing things that don't suck. For those of you who don't know me very well, I hate the music of Slipknot. As for Wednesday, he went off and did some crappy project called Gunfire 76. It was terrible. I've been a fan of W13 from Frankenstein's Drag Queens all the way through Bourbon Crow, however his new stuff irritated me. Please believe me when I say it's a relief to see JJ and W13 together again.

Last they left off, they supposedly hated each other and had some school girl quarrel over rights to music from the previous Murderdolls CD and so on. All money related bullshit. Luckily for us music lovers they've seemed to bury the hatchet both metaphorically and literally.

"Women and Children Last" is a full-frontal bloody assault on the eardrums. It could easily be mistaken as B-sides from Wednesday's last album "Skeletons" but that's not a bad thing. "Skeletons" is a great album. Also, W13 has gone through a slew of guitarists as a solo act. With this album Joey Jordison proved himself as an worthy guitarist. His guitar work was good on the first Murderdolls CD "Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls" but it didn't convey the great guitarist staple. This album more than nailed that.

For fans of the first album though, don't expect another glam, punk, horror humor themed album. Much like W13's recent work, it goes far away from the Vincent Price influenced sense of humor and takes on a much more serious metal tone. Right off the bat you hear a song called "Chapel of Blood" and it's pure metal through and through. Alice Cooper like vocals meshed with Motley Crue guitar work fuse this album into an automatic homage to prior rock n roll kings. They portray their heroes well and do the rock n roll community justice.

The lead single for this album is "My Dark Place Alone." Although it's a good track, it doesn't truly show the albums potential. With songs like "Drug Me to Hell" and "Bored till Death" they could have easily won over some Murderdoll/W13 fans who may have been on the fence about buying the new album. So here I am to tell you, that W13 and JJ are fucking back.

This album is ruthless and will leave you toothless. A bloody good time to be had by all. You'll want to lose your voice, punch your friends in the face and smile as they punch you back.

This album gets 4 and 1/2 Devil horns out of a possible 5.