Entertaining, sometimes amusing, right in your face and definitely not for the faint of heart.

Wednesday 13 (Joseph to his Mum) really doesn't care if you are offended by his music. In fact, he'd probably rather you are, because otherwise where's the fun in it? Ol' Wendy has been throwing shock horror music at his fans for nearly 20 years now, and once you get over the liberal use of the word ‘Fuck' he's usually quite fun to have around, like Alice Cooper's naughty nephew or something.



‘The Dixie Dead' pretty much follows the Wednesday 13 template, following up the now de rigueur intro piece with ‘Blood Sucker', which he has helpfully rhymed with ‘mother fucker', so that nobody gets the wrong idea about just whose blummen' album this is. That said, it's a pretty catchy, full on number that kicks off the album very well. From there on it's pretty much a case of ‘been there, done that', as “Wendy” has a way of doing things that is unlikely to change anytime soon. You have the military marching beat of ‘Hail Ming' (with a chorus that rather outstays its welcome), the rousing nastiness of the title track and another atmospheric (or pointless, depending on your point of view) intro to same. There's a real power to many of the tracks, and the lad himself certainly knows how to spout out words with real venom without becoming a death metal type shouter in the process. On the flip side, it's quite easy to get a little bored with the relentless assault of swearing and horror. Not too bored, but certainly a little.



If you've never heard Wednesday 13 before, his stuff is rather like Alice Cooper fighting with The Misfits in a graveyard. It's entertaining, sometimes amusing, right in your face and definitely not for the faint of heart. ‘The Dixie Dead' will be enjoyed by his existing fans, and if you like a bit of shlock horror rock you might be inclined to become one of them yourself.



Alan Holloway