This time around Dan Grote and Rachael Rearden give us their impressions of the debut album from Murderdolls.

Murderdolls: Beyond The Valley Of The Murderdolls
Label: Road Runner
 

First up Dan Grote gives us his spin on this disc. 

2002 is the year of the high-profile side project. Blink 182�s Tom DeLonge has given us Boxcar Racer, Phil Anselmo has released the long-awaited sophomore album from Down, and Dave Grohl is touting himself as a Queen of the Stone Age. 

To further sweeten the side project pot this fall, it appears that those children of the c/Korn, Slipknot, have found themselves engaging in other endeavors. While several members of the band, including singer Corey Taylor, have formed Stone Sour, drummer Joey Jordison has stepped out from behind the kit to play lead guitar for the Murderdolls, a band that, mercifully, sounds nothing like Slipknot and everything like the bastard child of Rob Zombie and Andrew W.K.

The �Dolls debut disc, Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls, starts out by sampling a classical string piece, which whirrs out and leads into the industrial punk of �Slit My Wrists,� a song which immediately destroys the gravitas of anything Jordison did in Slipknot with the mantra �Murder, murder, yes indeed, k-i-l-l-i-n-g.�

Throughout the album�s fifteen tracks, the Murderdolls obsess over scary movies (�Dead in Hollywood,� �She Was a Teenage Zombie�) while playing with the non-nu metal notion of catchy guitars riffs and up-tempo, audience participation-friendly chanting (best chant, from �Dawn of the Dead�: �When there�s no more room in Hell, then the dead will roam the Earth, and the living won�t have a prayer, �cuz it�s the dawn of the dead.�).
During those times when the band isn�t touting the virtues of Dracula and Leatherface, the �Dolls show their audience how they party hard, by way of songs like �Grave Robbing USA� and �197666.�

While some may feel the novelty of horror-rock has worn thin already (see also Alice Cooper, the Misfits, the aforementioned Mr. Zombie), the album is at its weakest when it tries to stray from its time-tested topic. Songs such as �People Hate Me,� �Let�s Go to War,� and the closing �Motherf***er, I Don�t Care� fail to deliver any real punch, sounding more like Marilyn Manson outtakes (which is ironic considering the �Dolls all have dark hair and wear white makeup).

VERDICT: Those who don�t read magazines would probably have no idea anybody from Slipknot had anything to do with this band. And that�s a good thing, as the �Dolls� music stands on its own in a time when most people expect metal bands to all be droll and depressing. Beyond the Valley is a spot of fun in a sludge-laden scene, and while the album�s sound and themes may not be wholly original, sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and say �So what? It�s catchy.�
 
 

Now we hear from the newest critic to join the iconoFAN Network, Rachael Rearden, who will be giving us the hard rock perspective from the UK.  Her review was not written with this series in mind, instead it was an article about the Murderdolls helping to change the hard rock landscape.  So read on for a different perspective on this album. � Keavin Lunatic in Chief. 

Is it time for a past genre of music to be resurrected? I think yes. But will Glam Rock, or indeed Glam Metal prove itself as successful to today�s generation as it was to yesterday's? 

Alice Coopers sudden tour is to commence later this year, after his apparent disappearance from the current music scene. But was it a disappearance or rather in fact that he was blocked out by the nu-metal and punk bands that have come our way over the past 5 years?

With older bands such as Iron Maiden and a reinvented Gun n� Roses coming back into the limelight, Glam Rock has decided to f*** it, give the kids a change from the music that�s around right now, and see if they like it. 

Murderdolls, a band that are as equally well known as they are not known at all, are a new band who are probably best recognized for their guitarist, a Mr. Joey Jordison - also drummer of nu-metal band Slipknot. Formally �The Rejects�, Murderdolls formed over 8 years ago, although the remaining members bar Jordison (who has been in since the start) entered the band over this year. 

Boasting Glam Rock influences such as TwistedSister, The Plasmatics, Dead Boys and the New York Dolls as music they listened to as kids, Murderdolls have brought a lot of their influences into their music. Certainly lead singer Wednesday 13 has a voice very similar to that of The Plasmatics. 

Its not so much that Murderdolls have got the balls to surprise our generation with Glam Metal (most kids will probably not have heard any), more that they�re not really that bothered. They are having a damn good time doing what they do, and listening to their album �Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls�, you either love it or hate it. 

Quoting the bands attitude as �being serious about not being taken seriously�, Jordison hits the nail on the head.   �well I�d rather cut you than the wedding cake/and your bloody guts on my rented tux/and and I do I do I do wanna kill you/till death do us part�
With lyrics like that, who could take Murderdolls seriously? Not to imply that not taking them seriously is a negative thing. 
�Beyond the Valley of the Murderdolls� is a record to have a f***ing good time to. It�s funny, it�s stupid, and it�s fun - its there to enjoy. 

Murderdolls lighten the mood of the present metal scene today.  If anything Murderdolls could help reassure you that your bands lyrics don�t have to be deep and meaningful to get you signed to roadrunner records. 

Whether we want it to or not, Glam Metal is beckoning! 

Listen to samples and Purchase this CD online

Visit the official site for more information on this CD and the band

About the reviewers:

Dan Grote is a feature writer for antiMUSIC and the iconoFAN network.

Rachael Rearden is a UK music journalist and a feature writer for the iconoFAN Network