Murderdolls: Women And Children Last – new album

MURDERDOLLS' second studio album entitled ‘Women And Children Last’ is to hit stores on August 31st, 2010 via Roadrunner Records (except the limited-edition version called “first-aid kit” (a set that includes the CD/DVD edition of the album, an exclusive T-shirt, digital download, autographed booklet, patch, sticker, pill case “plus other gruesome extras”) which can be pre-ordered here). ‘Women And Children Last’ was produced by renowned producer Chris “Zeus” Harris and Joey Jordison.

American horror punk act, MURDERDOLLS, is the brain child of SLIPKNOT's drummer Joey Jordison and rock musician Wednesday 13 (GUNFIRE 76). The two recruited Tripp Eisen (STATIC-X) for band's debut Roadrunner release entitled ‘Beyond The Valley Of Murderdolls’ (2002). The album drew lyrical inspiration from movies such as “Friday The 13th” and “Night Of The Living Dead” and as such was full of tongue-in-cheek horror clichés. The album that sold 100,000 copies in USA and reached number 40 on the UK Albums Chart, had upset AllMusic's critic Jason D. Taylor in such a way that he wrote: “If MURDERDOLLS are a joke, then these men have succeeded, and if this is serious... Well let's just stick with believing MURDERDOLLS are an extravagant prank on the music industry.” Joey Jordison recently replied: “We don’t look at this as a return - this is revenge! The music scene today is as boring and stale as it was in 2002, when we first formed the band. This time around, everyone is the enemy!” I will confess that similar statements, made occasionally but passionately by this prolific musician, actually caused me to sit down and start writing this blog in hope of proving him wrong.

Follow-up: ‘Women And Children Last’ made it to position 18 on Australia's Albums Chart, to position 33 on UK Albums Chart and has debuted at number 43 on the U.S. Billboard 200. The record received mostly positive reviews, setting aside AllMusic's Greg Prato (who still didn’t figure it out: “Trash metal? Horror metal? Punk metal? B-movie metal?”) and who should take Amy Sciarretto's (Ultimate Guitar) advice when listening to the album: “With Joey Jordison and Wednesday 13, you always need to look at life (or in their case, death) through blood-colored glasses. The band has certainly affixed itself with an image of blood and guts, but the music is sleazy rock'n'roll, swift melodies and punk rock stamina.” Read the rest of the review here.

Call me strange, but ‘Women And Children Last’ is the record that made me laugh the most this year. Therefore I’m quite happy to embed all three videos MURDERDOLLS released in support of the CD. ‘My Place Alone’ and ‘Nowhere’ were directed by director P.R. Brown. You should not watch the video for ‘Chapel Of Blood’ if easily offended.

‘Women And Children Last’s personnel: Wednesday 13 – vocals, guitar and bass, Joey Jordison – guitar, drums and backing vocals, Roman Surman – lead guitar, Mick Mars – guitar on tracks 4 and 9, Jack Tankersley – bass and  Racci Shay – drums