No title could be more appropriate than “Women and Children
Last” for this top job marking the comeback of one of the most missed ‘one
album wonders’ of rock’n’roll: ladies and gentlemen, run off quick, Murderdolls
are in the house!
Politically incorrect, playfully violent, happily inconsiderate,
they may have spent eight years away from the spotlight but man, if this is
what they were up to, fuck yeah, good things come to those who wait after all...
They’re back for more blood, back for revenge, ‘scum, filth, anger and greed’,
this is the world according to Wednesday 13 and Mr Jordison, open your ears and
let it rip through you. By the time “Women and Children Last” is over, you’ll
be addicted and madly looking for the repeat button, just like me.
Reading how Murderdolls new album was going to leave behind
the ‘campy horror lyrics’, I must confess I had that uncomfortable feeling of
apprehension, fear that another one of the few good things in rock’n’roll was
no more, in the name of an evolution that no one was really wishing for: I’m
glad to say I couldn’t be more wrong. For a start, what we have here is not a
comeback album created in two –three months to give the cow another squeeze: “Women
and children last” has been written throughout the long hiatus, and highlights
a progression step by step rather than just jumping into something else all
together. Sure, there are more introspective tracks, like ‘My Dark Place Alone’
or ‘Nothing’s gonna be alright’, but the Murderdolls trademark dark humour is
still all there, just like their gritty energy, and there are more than just
glimpses of the old “Valley” in ‘Bloodstained
Valentine’ or ‘Hello Goodbye Die’ for example. ‘Chapel of Blood’ with its
deviously catchy chorus and haunting ‘Drug Me To Hell’ will make two
sensational live moments.
Hard to find highlights here, this is a total grower where
your favourite is bound to change every day. Right now, I’m particularly into ‘Nowhere’
and ‘Pieces of you’, then again last week I was singing ‘Chapel of Blood’ like
a woman possessed. What I always liked A LOT is that you can let out the cruel
bloody insensitive bastard that is somewhere inside all of us (don’t deny it,
just think of that c**t at work you’d really love to punch…), let him scream
and then have a laugh together. You can feel like you actually punched that
c**t but you won’t lose your job. Pretty amazing stuff.
In the meanwhile, I just found a new favourite, ‘Rock’n’Roll
is All I Got’. “I said it once before and I’ll say it once again, sex, drugs
and rock’n’roll has been my only friend”: do I need to add anything? Oh yes,
one thing I guess… Buy it. You need it. And you know it. Time for me to hit ‘repeat’.
10/10
Review by The Wicked Witch
