First-rate Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein is back and at the top of his game on the pulverizing new album DOYLE: Abominator. Joining him are dynamic vocalist Alex Story (Cancerslug), masterly bassist “Left-Hand” Graham and the consummate, latter day Misfits drummer Dr. Chud. Like Newsted or Slash, Doyle is a band, but at the same time it’s also Doyle going solo.
Longtime Misfits fans might expect Abominator to be a full-scale punk attack, but it’s actually just as much of a metal assault. Which is certainly not a bad thing. To that end, it has elements of both thrash and melodic metal. To be sure, Alex Story’s vocals are mean and raw, but you can also understand every word he sings. Stylistically, he’s like a cross between James Hetfield and Rob Zombie. In terms of the lyrics, Doyle is closer to Rob Zombie, being that each of the songs are like finely-crafted Stephen King horror stories.
“Swing from the gallows / That hang in the valley of shadows,” Story sings during the brutal chorus of “Valley of Shadows,” which has something of a doom metal vibe. “This is the land of the dead / The death of you all,” he half-screams during the similarly-themed, bone-crushing “Land of the Dead,” which finds Doyle delivering some punishing Metallica-style riffs.
The Misfits-esque “DREAMINGDEADGIRLS” and the Type O Negative-ish “CEMETERYSEXX” are about necrophiliac fantasies. “Making love among the dead is the only time that I feel alive,” goes part of the latter’s chorus. Meanwhile, the grinding “Bloodstains” and the frenzied “Head Hunter” are from the point of view of homicidal maniacs on the prowl.
Reading the above, you’re probably thinking that Abominator’s dark lyrics sound an awful lot like death metal. And you’d be correct. But where death metal artists tend to take their lurid subject matter seriously, Doyle’s music comes across as comparatively light-hearted. In other words, Doyle’s tunes are all about entertainment. Like Alice Cooper’s music, there’s an element of shock value, sure, but at the end of the day these songs are FUN. Like horror movies. So, buy this album now and enjoy the hell out of it.
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