|
Cover: 6
Parental Advisory Labels out of 10
It's a big ball of pain! Mouths screaming, people running, that Vietnamese
dude getting shot in the head, eyes, teeth, and streaks of red. Screened
back in shades of grey are more layered scenes of desperation and human
torment. Aftermaths of mob hits, refugees in despair. Is that Yoko Ono?
Who knows, it's all mixed together and hard to distinguish anything.
Naturally, there's the Parental Advisory label, which I'm sure Dee was
real happy about. Overall, it's pretty weird and evil looking, but a
few shades of color might have helped to make this stand out a bit more.
Booklet: 5
S.M.F.'s out of 10
More of the screened-back weirdness and a ton of credits and thank you
notes. No lyrics though! It folds out into a six pane mini-poster with
a full color band photo on the reverse side. That's cool, but why force
people to send off for lyrics in the mail? At least you can save yourself
a stamp nowadays and get them off Dee's Web site.
Songs:
8 Captain Howdy's out of 10
If you were ever a Twisted Sister fan, and even if you weren't, you'll
want to give these tunes a listen. Most of these songs were written
by Dee Snider along with Bernie "Stagefright" Tormé
and Al Pitrelli, except for one cover tune (Howlin' Wolf's "Evil").
And you know what? They smoke. Dee's voice sounds just as good, if not
better, than anything he did in his Twisted Sister days, and he proves
that he's got the pipes to front any band he damn well pleases. You
can't ever shut the guy up, so you might as well let him sing his balls
off. And he does. Ranging from gritty electric blues to straight-ahead
cock rock, Widowmaker was Dee's attempt at a triumphant return to the
hard rock scene. Had it been a year or two earlier, it very well might
have been.
Comments: Widowmaker also
featured Joey Franco on drums, who was in Twisted Sister for their last
last album and tour in '87. While accolades were generally positive
for "Blood & Bullets," their fall '94 follow-up album,
"Stand By For Pain," went largely unnoticed. Al Pitrelli went
on to Megadeth and then to Savatage, and Dee Snider always has a million
other projects going on. However, Widowmaker has never officially broken
up; rather, they are on "permanent hiatus." Rumor has it that
another Widowmaker album, tentatively entitled "Let The Pain Begin,"
is waiting in the wings and will be released when the moon falls from
orbit and the sea turns into Lambrusco.
|
|