Dark, disturbing and delicious.

A big noise in the Horror Rock genre, Wednesday 13 (Joseph Poole but maybe just call him Wendy for short?) has been knocking around for a couple of decades now, delivering his seventh solo album in twelve years. I've had the ghoulish pleasure of previously reviewing a few of them and I have to say that 'Condolences' may just be the best yet.

First off, it should be noted that this is a heavy album. It's dark, it's aggressive and it's Metal. This not an album for the maiden aunts, unless they are Iron Maiden aunts. This is partly due to Kyle Castronovo's powerful double kick drumming, which dominates throughout. Whereas previous records have been properly tongue-in-cheek, this one seems to take inspiration from the likes of Alice Cooper's 'Brutal Planet', and uses real life horror as a base rather than B-movies.

Gone is the Punk vibe, now replaced by Metal, and it works really well. Wednesday 13's snarling vocals are always effective when given a meaty subject, and when he says "I want to take a razor blade and mutilate your body" there's a nagging feeling he's serious. The song in question, 'Cruel To You', is a litany of cruelty to one of the album's lighter tunes, something that would have fitted well on Cooper's 'Hey Stoopid' album. It is one of those tracks you happily sing along to until you remember what words you're actually singing!

As is typical, there's thirteen tracks here (including a short intro and the odd minute and a half of 'Eulogy'), and none of them outstay their welcome. It's nasty and brutal at times, but powerful with it, mesmerizing in its aggression. It's a Horror soundtrack for the modern generation rather than the eighties kids, where Torture Porn rules and not everyone gets out alive. It's an old line, but this really will appeal to fans of Cooper's heavier work, and hopefully existing fans will be able to appreciate the shift to pure Metal, mainly because it works so well. Dark, disturbing and delicious – welcome to Wendy's house.

Alan Holloway