Stephen
Joseph Poole, the real name behind the mask of Wednesday 13, is one of the core members of Murderdolls, along with Slipknot's Joey Jordison. After Murderdolls went hiatus, Poole decided to form a solo band under his nickname and released "Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead" during summer 2005. I don't know if glam metal is really fit with his music cause one thing for sure is that Wednesday 13 is heavily influenced by horror punk god, The Misfits, while they twist the music with some heavy metal stuffs, yes probably glam metal is an acceptable term, although please don't imagine any type of Winger, Poison, or Trixter stuffs inside.
Most of the songs here are uptempo with distorted bass and thick downtuned guitars, couple of slower tunes (the title track and "A Bullet Named Christ") and I don't want to call it ballads as it looks like it's an unsuitable term. Looking through the glasses of classic glam metal, Wednesday 13 is definitely a whole different beast and can become a bad food to consume for many old guns. No addictive hooks, no flashy solos, no harmonic vocals, and no heartfelt ballads.
Songs like "Look What The Bats Dragged In" (Poison already got the copyright for "Cats" I guess lol) exploded with an electrifying rhythm, pretty interesting but still passable to me. "I Walked With A Zombie", the first single, is like a metalized version of pop-punk anthem from bands like Blink 182 or Bowling For Soup, good but not great. "Bad Things", the second single, has a flat and uninspiring riffs, very much the same with "Haunt Me" or "The Ghost of Vincent Price". The best thing they can give me is "God Is A Lie", built on a melodic and accessible pattern, this is my favorite song out of the entire album.
This is definitely not my cup of tea and I'm sure I don't have the capacity of judging this album bad. Probably if you're into punk, nu metal, sleaze, and industrial at the same time, you'll appreciate this more than I am, but if you ask me, a single star is the best I can give.