(Roadrunner)

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With The Murderdolls on hold as Joey Jordison returned to his commitments with Slipknot, vocalist Wednesday 13 has formed an eponymous band and recorded 13 new songs that sound… a lot like The Murderdolls.

Which is not to slag the prolific singer: it is Wednesday’s original band Frankenstein Drag-Queens From Planet 13 that gave The Murderdolls much of their thrust and the bulk of their material. The lively horror-movie glam-punk that propelled The Murderdolls also owe a great deal to The Misfits, The Cramps and Ramones as it does to Alice Cooper, Rob Zombie and Poison; and is what made their music so much fun as they gleefully extolled the virtues of grave-robbing and other B-movie fare. And Wednesday 13 clearly has no intention of fixing something that ain’t broke.

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While every single song sounds like a Murderdolls song because of the subject matter and the singer, one thing -- and only one thing -- stands out: no Joey. Wednesday has selected a terrific drummer (“Ghastly”) for his new group (“Kid Kid” on bass, “Pig” on guitar), but listening to Beyond The Valley… cements the fact that Joey Jordison is a spectacular drummer who put his indelible stamp on that band. That aside, this is still a great little record, and should satisfy Murderdolls fans until the next Slipknot sabbatical.

The songs are tight little 3-chord rockers all featuring sing-along choruses that would make Glenn Danzig proud. The record is abundant with movie-samples and wholly embraces the Psychotronic-lust that Wednesday is known for. “Look What The Bats Dragged In,” “House By the Cemetery,” “Buried By Christmas,” “Rot For Me” and “Elect Death For President” are standouts, with the marvelously contagious “I Walked With a Zombie” being the out-and-out hit.

See you in the graveyard at midnight.

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