Gruesome Joe’s Musical Morgue

'Transylvania 90210' Review

Listen up Deadites!  Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue, right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.

This episode marks a very special milestone in the history of Rotting Flesh Radio—the 200^th episode!  You heard me right Deadites! 200 episodes ago, on October 7 2005, Jonathan Johnson kicked off Rotting Flesh Radio featuring an interview with Leonard Pickel of Haunted Attraction Magazine and a slew of rockin’ tracks that would lay down the foundation for many, many more episodes to come.

(clip from RFR original episode)

And starting the entire swath of musical madness was the very appropriate track “Rot For Me” by Wednesday 13 from the album Transylvania 90210.

(“Rot For Me” clip)

It almost seems like a beckoning, doesn’t it?  Sit back, relax, and rot away…

(“Rot For Me” clip)

Haha… Well, at any rate, I thought it would be fun to go through this album and highlight a few of my favorite tracks and take us all back to 2005.

The album starts off with a nice, predominantly ambient track, quickly setting the mood as if in an old horror movie.

(“Post Mortem Boredom” clip)

However, this calming eerie track is soon blown out of the water by the very driving track “Look What the Bats Dragged In.”  This song sets the real mood of the album almost instantaneously—we know we’re in for a loud, high-tempo album full of gore and metal.

(“Look What the Bats Dragged In” clip)

The third track of the album is actually my favorite, entitled “I Walked With A Zombie.”  This track in particular exemplifies the thrashing, pop-metal vibe that Wednesday 13 really nailed in their follow-up album Fang Bang with the songs “American Werewolves in London” and “Till Death Do Us Party.”  This is one of those songs that you can’t help but rock along with, no matter how hard you try not to.

(“I Walked With A Zombie” clip)

The next track “Bad Things” is a rather hilarious song about wanting terrible things to happen to someone.  I found this track nice to listen to while I was at work dealing with some frustrating clients.  The next track “House By The Cemetery” features some really driving guitar work with a very prominent synthesizer accompaniment and is followed by the multi-elemental track “Haunt Me.”  This track runs hot and cold, soft and quiet, and uses the music as a nice accentuation to his actual lyrics.

(“Haunt Me” clip)

Next is the title track of the album “Transylvania 90210,” which starts off soft with a fairly mellow electric guitar and later incorporates a synthesizer line that carries the entire length of the song.  This song is actually very different from all previous tracks, because it is fairly quiet and doesn’t use any drums or distorted guitars.  This naturally doesn’t last very long, because then we’re thrashed into the next track “I Want You…DEAD.”

(“I Want You…DEAD” clip)

The next track is a pretty funny Christmas tune actually, well—you could consider it to be a Christmas tune anyway.  It’s called “Buried By Christmas.”  Chances are you won’t hear this one on the radio, but it is pretty good in my opinion.  The following track “Elect Death For President” keeps things a bit tongue-in-cheek by using very strange saxophone accents with a heavy metal underbelly.

(“Elect Death For President” clip)

This next track is a Rotting Flesh Radio favorite, “Rot For Me.”  This driving metal track was reminiscent of an anthem for me, especially during their chorus and drum solo.  This song would undoubtedly rock seriously hard in a live environment!  The following track is very similar in that it would get a crowd going crazy.  The song, entitled “The Ghost of Vincent Price” is a nice tribute to the legendary Vincent Price and makes note of several of his best known films.  I think it could have been pretty cool to add some sort of ambient audio content that featured some of his famous lines…  But hey, maybe they just couldn’t get the rights.

(“The Ghost of Vincent Price” clip)

So overall, I give this album one bloody stump as a great high-octane metal album that will more than likely make you chuckle, and will also get your feet tapping.  It didn’t have the song style that I enjoy as much, like on Fang Bang, but the album is definitely solid and is worth checking out.  You can get it at mega retailers like Amazon and the like, and you can check out their official “gravesite” at www.Wednesday13.com.

And speaking of my bloody stump ratings, I figured now would be a good time to officially decree that Rotting Flesh Radio gets two bloody stumps way, way up for being the best source of news and information within the haunted attraction and horror industry.  A big thank you goes out to everyone listening, everyone supporting, and everyone producing Rotting Flesh Radio week after bloody week.  And a special thank you goes out to Jonathan for creating the best horror podcast out there, and congratulations on your 200^th episode!

Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue. Be sure to tune is next time—I’m sure I’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection.  Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to check out the written version of my review, as well as all the links you need to find the bands and music you hear on the show. I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the morgue, waiting for you… until next time…

Greetings Deadites! Be sure to tune in and check back tomorrow evening to hear my latest Musical Morgue review. This week is special, as it is RFR’s 200th episode spectacular! I’m taking us all back with some glorious metal from 2005. So be sure to tune it, sit back, relax, and rot away…

GJ

Hello Deadites!

I’d like to take a moment and wish everyone out there a very Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Cool Yule–however you celebrate, I’d like to wish you to best of seasons!  In honor of the holiday, I found a lovely video (actually it’s a commercial, but I think it’s hilarious) that keeps it nice and spooky for all of us fright freaks, but keeps the merriment of Christmas alive!  Well, kind of alive…  Here it is for you to enjoy!

At any rate, have a happy holiday season!

GJ

'A Twisted Christmas' Review

Listen up Deadites!  Gruesome Joe here with the latest installment of the Musical Morgue right here on Rotting Flesh Radio.

With the Morbidly Merry Christmas celebration well underway, and only two weeks until Christmas day, I think it’s time to take the music up a notch and infuse you with some serious tongue-in-cheek heavy metal holiday cheer.  To do this, we have to look no further than the 80’s glam-metal icon Twisted Sister and their appropriately titled album A Twisted Christmas.

Fans of Twisted Sister’s old school sound are going to love this album, and newcomers won’t be able to keep from cracking a smile while spinning this disc. A Twisted Christmas is chock full of tongue-in-cheek takes on traditional Christmas carols, all the while keeping a great driving, heavy metal backbone.  Many of the tracks on the album are Twisted versions of well known Christmas carols, but some even go as far as to introduce their own Twisted lyrics, and even an audio sketch into the mix to keep the album lighthearted and full of holiday cheer.  With the signature Twisted Sister sound prevailing in each track, one can’t help but chuckle at how ridiculously appropriate this album is.

It all starts off with their hilarious take on “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.”  This track really sets the mood of the album with some good comedy and a good Twisted Sister brand of metal rendition of the original song.  The track begins with a great audio sketch and acoustic version of the song but quickly takes a turn to make things nice and … TWISTED!

(“Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” clip)

We’re then launched into some Twisted Sister nostalgia with “Oh Come All Ye Faithful.”  I say nostalgia because this track reeks of “We’re Not Gonna’ Take It” complete with the same drum line, bass solos, and caps it off with an arrangement of “Hava Nagila.”  This is by far my favorite track on the album because it is not only really funny, but it’s very good musically and incorporates humor into both the traditional song as well as into the arrangement of the music.

(“Oh Come All Ye Faithful” clip)

The next track “White Christmas” is a driving metal rendition of the classic.  It is followed by a strong duet between Dee Snider and Lita Ford in “I’ll Be Home For Christmas.”  This track is a nice break from the metal styling of the album with its resonating guitars in a grand, power ballad style.  It also features one of the better guitar solos on the album.

(“I’ll Be Home For Christmas” clip)

The next several tracks are all fast tempo, rockin’ heavy metal renditions of traditional Christmas fare.  “Silver Bells,” “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” “Let It Snow,” and “Deck The Halls” all utilize a really driving beat and guitar work, all the while keeping the signature Twisted Sister sound quite prevalent.  Each track does a great job at keeping true to the originals, but definitely incorporates their own musical flair to the songs.

(“I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus” clip)

The album then takes the tempo down a notch, but keeps the clever riffs hot with “The Christmas Song.”  This Twisted take on a classic is very nice musically—incorporating a great bass line and stellar guitar solo.  I actually like this song a lot more after hearing this version of it.  I really don’t like the original.  So kudos to the band on finally making this song enjoyable!

(“The Christmas Song” clip)

The last track on the album is nothing short of brilliantly ridiculous.  “Heavy Metal Christmas (12 Days of Christmas)” is a hilarious, heavy metal twist on an old Christmas classic.  With tattoos of Ozzy, pentagrams, spandex pants, skull earrings, black mascara, and more… you can’t help but have a heavy metal Christmas!  Plus, at the end of each countdown is either a bass or guitar solo—so the more you listen, the better it gets!

(“Heavy Metal Christmas (12 Days of Christmas)” clip)

So Deadites, I give this album two enthusiastic stumps up!  It’s a festive heavy metal romp through scores of classics and is both musically and comedically well done.  I really liked the musical twists on these classics because they seemed to breathe a whole new life into the songs without becoming overtly cheesy.  Now granted, there are several instances on the album that are a cheese-fest—but that is all part of the show and adds a nice levity to the album as a whole.  All the songs are quite musically sound and incorporate the style and feel of Twisted Sister with the use of intricate bass runs and Dee Snider’s signature vocal work.  I also think incorporating the comedy into the album was a brilliant idea.  After all, the glam-rock hair metal groups of the 80’s were far from “serious” in their approach to theme.  However—they put on a great show, and A Twisted Christmas in every way delivers this 100%.  And to add to this showmanship, the band made two music videos for the album that are just as ludicrous as you would imagine them to be.  I’ll be sure to put up links to the videos at GruesomeJoe.com so you can check them out!

If you’d like to get a copy of this album, head over to Amazon or iTunes or whatever your favorite online music retailer is.  It’s a surefire way to add some spice to your holiday music this season.  Also, I do believe they will be performing the album live this season over in Las Vegas and then in New York if you’d like the ultimate Twisted Christmas experience.  Check out www.TwistedSister.com for the details.

Well Deadites, that about does it for this week here in the Morgue.  Be sure to tune in next time when I’m sure we’ll have more great tunes you’ll want to add to your collection.  Also be sure to check out GruesomeJoe.com to catch the written version of my review, as well as all the music videos and links to the album and the band.  Until then, I’m Gruesome Joe and I’ll be chilling out here in the Morgue, waiting for you, until next time…

Here are the videos I mentioned:

Happy Holidays fellow music lovers!

Coming up this Friday, 12/11/09, is the latest Musical Morgue music review by yours truly, Gruesome Joe! Naturally keeping with the Morbidly Merry Christmas celebration, we’ve found some lovely glam-rock, heavy metal holiday music that I think you’re really going to enjoy.

Check back on Friday to catch it at RottingFleshRadio.com and here at GruesomeJoe.com! I hope to see you soon!

GJ