Ladies, gentlemen, ghouls, corpses and other creatures of the night, the boogeyman of horror music has returned. Wednesday 13 is back with his 7th full length solo record (and first through Nuclear Blast records) titled Condolences. An album which see Wednesday 13 take on a much darker and almost serious tone. People familiar with Wednesday’s previous works know there is a usual campy, tongue-in-cheek vibe that accompanies a lot of his songs and albums. Those tones take a back burner on Condolences and we dive head first into the nightmare filled darkness.
Ever since Wednesday 13 released his album Skeletons back in 2008 many fans, myself included, have been wanting to see the band dive deeper into the “metal” territory as opposed to his classic horror-punk style. Each progressing album since then has seen Wednesday put his feet deeper and deeper into those waters, and now finally with Condolences he is going all in. This is quite the risk for any band, to take on a new style and to the die-hard horror punk fans I’m sure this won’t sit well. But believe me, the added heaviness and upped tempo work really well with his standard horror themed formula. It translates into 13 tracks that treat us to a dark, hellish fun time from start to finish.
On Condolences one thing that really stood out to me was the overall production and whole band feel. This is the first album that Wednesday 13 has had the same band return to back him up. There is a real cohesion and chemistry with the current lineup and you can hear it executed with perfection. The drums are relentless and really hit with a force, the riffs push the tempo and there is even a few guitar solos dropped in here and there (a nice unexpected bonus). Topped off with Wednesday’s dark, twisted lyrical madness, Condolences is a heavy hitter and catchy as hell. These songs have been stuck in my head non-stop and I am sure people out and about think that I’m insane as I repeat them.
Condolences is truly stacked with some of the best work Wednesday 13 has put forth over his career, their honestly is not a bad track in here. Track after track will get stuck in your head on an album that has great replay value. It’s been a long journey for Wednesday to get to this point and he has arrived at the pinnacle album of his career. Condolences will be a hard album for the band to top going forward from here, but knowing the creativity of Mr. Wednesday I’m sure he will find a way.
Score: 4.73 / 5
Wednesday 13 is:
- Wednesday 13 // Vocals
- Roman Surman // Guitar
- Jack Tankersley // Guitar
- Troy Doebbler // Bass
- Kyle Castronovo // Drums
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