Trash metal? Horror metal? Punk metal? B-movie metal? It's hard to settle on a single description for
the Murderdolls. But after hearing their sophomore effort, 2010's
Women and Children Last, any of the four aforementioned metallic subgenres would do the trick. It's been quite a layoff since the
'dolls released their full-length debut, 2002's
Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, but fans never gave up hope about the possibility of a sophomore effort. Eight years later, they finally got their wish. And despite original member
Tripp Eisen having exited the band, core members
Wednesday 13 and
Joey Jordison remain onboard, and their musical and visual hybrid of
the Plasmatics,
Mötley Crüe,
Marilyn Manson, and
Slipknot remains very much intact. The proof can be heard throughout
Women and Children Last, especially on such tracks as the album-opener "Chapel of Blood," and the very
Crüe-esque "Summertime Suicide." And while we're on the subject of the
Crüe, non other than
Mötley guitarist
Mick Mars lends some six-string work on a pair of tracks here -- "Drug Me to Hell" and "Blood Stained Valentine" -- which only further confirms who one of
the Murderdolls main influences are. Some will say that the horror shtick may get a bit predictable after a while (take a gander at such song titles as "Homicide Drive" and "Hello, Goodbye, Die," and you know precisely what lies ahead). If you were figuring that
the Murderdolls were going to expand musically upon what they laid down on their debut album,
Women and Children Last will prove your assumption wrong -- they're sticking as close to their original vision as possible. ~ Greg Prato