Wednesday 13 – Condolences


Of course you knew him from Murderdolls, in which he was “one of the other guys” in that aforenamed band created by Joey Jordison, the former drummer of a little nonet known as Slipknot. Perhaps you’re older school and remember him in Frankenstein Drag Queens from Planet 13, or even older school than that as some dude named Joseph Poole. But forget everything you knew about Wednesday 13, because, for the intents and purposes of these Condolences (Nuclear Blast), the Wednesday 13 you thought you knew is dead.Continue reading


Doyle – II: As We Die


It’s been a busy few years for Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein. From setting up his eponymous band, launching a debut album via his own Monsterman Records and the tiny matter of reforming and gigging the classic Misfits he is now completing the cycle with part II: As We Die of the Doyle legacy, this time partnering with Dave Ellefson’s EMP behemoth empire.Continue reading


The Other – Fear Itself


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The Other is a German band that plays Horror Punk, a brilliant combination of happy Punk, Rock, and Metal music and horror-movie lyrics, and Fear Itself (Steamhammer/SPV) is their sixth studio album. With a line-up change that saw two new band members join the ranks of The Other, the musical styles are more diverse, ranging from Goth Rock and Power Metal to the regular Punk sound. Rod Usher’s vocals, while having a very different tone of voice, as often sung in a style similar to Volbeat.

After the mysterious intro ‘Fear Itself’, the album proper opens with ‘Nie Mehr’, a German-sung Hard Rock and Metal extravaganza, with enough melodiousness that it would make a great sing-along at a concert. ‘Black Sails Against A Midnight Sky’ also has a great shout-along chorus. The vocals, and especially backing vocals, in both ‘Dreaming of the Devil’ and ‘Doll Island’ are slightly on the edge, but this turns out to have rather a good stylistic effect for the genre.

One of my favourite songs on this album is ‘The Price You Play’, which combines Power Metal and Punk to create a cheerful but full sound; the chorus is especially fun with staccato guitars and sweeping vocals, and the bridge has the same kind of creepy vibe that Oomph! is especially good at. Another highlight is ‘Funeral March’, while a lot of the songs of this album can be construed as relatively normal songs, ‘Funeral March’ is really out and out in its lyrics and vocal style.

Throughout much of album the drumming is punk and the guitars metal, but ‘Animal Instinct’ is pure punk with horror lyrics, reminiscent of The Living End in its boundless energy and bass lines. If you like your music loud and energetic and your horror movies cheesy, then you’ll probably enjoy the living daylights out of this album.

 

7.5/10

 

LORRAINE LYSEN


Ghoul – Hang Ten EP


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A popular name amongst the musical community, there are several Ghouls in the band world. There are the legendary punk rockers from Japan, the cult black metal outfit from the UK and the gothic German rock band who only made one 7-inch vinyl. There are also a few others, including the subject of this review, the Ghoul of Oakland, California. With a cult following and more masks than WesCraven’s garage, Hang Ten (Tankcrimes) is the quartet’s latest EP and it’s one that combines their penchant for the thrash, the punk and the death.

 

Largely instrumental, the six-song release weighs in at just over 17 minutes long, giving you small and quick blasts of music throughout. Leading with speedy thrasher ‘The Midnight Ride of the Cannibals MC,’ Hang Ten starts and continues to be short but deathly sweet. From the 70’s punk-esque beginnings of ‘Sidehackers’ to the mixture of death and hardcore vocals on ‘Kregg’ this EP may sound at first like a straight up thrash affair but for those willing to give it another listen, there’s more dimensions to Hang Ten than first meets the ears. Got a spare twenty minutes? Give this a try.

 

 

8/10

Ghoul on Facebook

EMMA QUINLAN


Still Fiendish After All These Years: Doyle


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In the last four decades of music, few bands have invaded the popular consciousness the way the The Misfits have. The original group were only around for a relatively short time, but left an indelible mark on music with their angry, infections hardcore punk. They broke boundaries and helped define the genre of early East Coast, US hardcore, and along the way influenced many other genres too. It’s hard to see that in the sea of ubiquity that is their logo on shirts, patches, stickers, tattoos, and even songs heard in liquor commercials now (‘Where Eagles Dare’), but that is because their brand lives in people’s minds as much as the songs do. Glenn Danzig branched off with his own legendary solo career, but his former band mates like Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, stayed in the life, and has played Misfits music non-stop since 1977. Armed with a new album, Abominator (Monsterman Records), we caught up with Doyle by phone while he was on the road as a special guest of the Danzig 25th Anniversary Tour, doing a set of songs from the band he and Glenn helped bring to life in the first place.

 

Doyle, who is still the same guy he always was, has changed little over the years in his demeanor and style. He tells it like it is when he speaks to you. While he has been happy to reunite with Danzig for these shows, as he has done over the last few years, he is far from sentimental about it. He talks about being a part of Glenn’s tour and fights about choosing the relatively small set list (7-8 per night) out of dozens of songs:

I’m the first one to complain! He don’t want to listen to nobody, man! I say “Let’s do this one”… “nope!” “Let’s do that one.” “nope!” “Let’s do this”- “nope!” (laughs) There’s is no talking to him!”

 

 

To me it’s just like going to work. It’s like packing a lunch, and punching a clock. It’s exactly the same as it always was. To me it’s no big deal. I mean, it’s cool for me to hear Glenn sing them again, but to me it’s all the same. I could probably play all of these songs blindfolded and riding a unicycle, and I’ve never rode a unicycle before. (laughs)”

I have a lot of fun on the road with these Danzig shows man. The crowds are great and we have a lot of fun. Of course, I’m on the road so much, I can’t remember where I was last night! (laughs) I am playing just with Danzig set for a Misfits set, only, on this tour. It’s a lot easier than playing with my old band. We have the new Doyle band now. We’ll plan a tour with my band, some place warm during the winter months. The big shows in Europe with Danzig were pretty cool. Like huge crowds of over 100,000 people. It’s insane!”

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Speaking of the legendary strife and split that broke up The Misfits in 1983 and led Danzig to first form Samhain, and then his own band, Doyle is very candid when it comes to talk the prospects of his brother Jerry Only and Glenn someday patching things up.

“To me I wish those two would stop smashing their heads together, patch things up and reunite. Then we could make an album, go on tour and blow this motherfucker up! We could shove that shit down everybody’s throats if we wanted to. “

 

Still, Doyle is focused on the present and future, as much as he protects his own history. He spoke at length between the difference between his past attempts at having a band and the current group comprising the Doyle band now, the process he goes through to create new music, and having to cut himself off from making too many new songs at once:

 

I have a real writing partner now, writing with me in Alex Story (Cancerslug). When I am done writing songs I give them to him. I write all the music, I write all the songs. It’s not all music, it’s called songs, because they are mostly complete. He puts melodies and lyrics on them and they are done. That’s actually how he got the gig. I called him up and he was walking into a Danzig show in Houston. I said “hey man I have these twelve new musical compositions, I’d like you to work on with me.” He sent me back the songs in like two days and that is exactly how you hear them on the record. He’s great. He writes really killer lyrics.”

See, I write all the music in my band. That is my rule in my band, I write all the music. If you come in to rehearsal with a song, you go home with that song. I write the riffs in my band. I write all the songs. I play all the guitars, drums and bass. I programed all the drums, before Dr. Chud came in and recorded them. I basically put it all together and hand it over to you. Here’s the blueprint of it! Then I tell Alex to do with it whatever the fuck he wants after that. I have it worked out how it should go in my mind, but I give it to him to finish because he’s a genius. He works at his house, I work at my house, and that is it!”

We started writing in 2008 and we stopped in 2012. We actually recorded it ourselves, in our own studio. We went out and bought all the gear, learned how to use it all, learned Pro-Tools and everything. Chud did the drums. I did all the bass and guitars, and Alex did the vocals. We wrote 38 songs, and we have over three albums worth of material in the can. We’re back in the studio to go back to recording. They are just waiting on me to finish my tracks and then we will have the second album all done. Then when that is done, I might just do some more writing to give the third album to get more of a different vibe going. I kind of have to stop sometimes. I write all the time, so I really need to stop myself. I stopped, because I wanted to finish this new record first. It kind of drives me nuts, but I don’t like to start something else until I finish off the last thing. Once we get off the Danzig tour, I’m gonna map out the rest of the songs. We have four more new ones completed and a bunch of others ready to go.”

 

 

 

One thing Doyle takes great pride in, is that many have tried but few can replicate his classic guitar tone, that really, other than some volume and some improvements in EQ, hasn’t really changed much in all these years. The guitars on Abominator sound as crisp and killer as ever. Of course, everyone in music that Doyle meets asks him how he does it. He shares his secret with us:

You know what it is? Everybody asks me how I get that sound. James Hetfield asked me. Scott Ian asked me, “what the fuck do you use?” It’s not what I use., it’s how I hold my guitar. If Eddie Van Halen played through my rig, he would sound like Eddie Van Halen. If I played through his rig, I would sound like me. Everybody holds the guitar the same way, but I hold the neck and my pick differently. I hold the guitar neck so high and so hard, my fucking left hand always bleeds. Whoever is playing it, that is how they sound if they hold it that way. One time Johnny Thunders plugged into my brother’s bass rig and he sounded like Johnny Thunders. He was like, “what the fuck!?!” But that is what it is. Most people just sound like themselves.”

 

 

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When discussing his decision to create his own record label, Monsterman Records, Doyle cuts right to the chase about why:

My theory is that everybody should be out for themselves when it comes to record labels. You wind up making 7 cents a record for the whole band, for over ten years, until you recoup. You spend the rest of your life paying those guys back for nothing. Now you put it out by yourself, and you make seven dollars a record right now. You don’t even need to sell a bunch bunch of records to get paid. And that is why we put out the record ourselves. And the labels did this to themselves. It’s their own fucking fault!”

Doyle on Facebook

 

Keith (Keefy) Chachkes

 

 

 

 

 


Ghost Cult Presents- ‘Abominator’ from Doyle


image001In conjunction with Monsterman Records, Ghost Cult Magazine is proud to stream the title track from the killer new album by Doyle, Abominator! Until now the album has only been available digitally, but comes out on CD and vinyl today, 10/29/13, just in time for Halloween. A special digipack edition can also be purchased by all fiendish fans of Doyle from www.OfficialDoyle.com. You can read our 9/10 review of the album here: http://ow.ly/qfTB7

 

Doyle on Facebook
Official Doyle


Doyle – Abominator


doyle-abominatorFinally, the long awaited solo record from Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein, Abominator, (Monsterman Records) is upon us. Sure he released another album under the name Gorgeous Frankenstein but that is just as hard to find as Kryst the Conqueror. One of my favorite records of the year, it’s not leaving my rotation anytime soon. This is the album you wish The Misfits would put out. These are some fast, groovy and heavy ass songs. If you’ve heard the Cuts from the Crypt release from The Misfits, Doyle still has a ton of dangerous riffs, and on Abominator, riffs are taken to the next level.Continue reading