Perhaps as a condition of
Overkill signing with
Koch/eOne, bassist
D.D. Verni's side project,
the Bronx Casket Co., has been revived.
Verni handles lead vocals on this release, taking over from onetime
Misfits frontman Myke Hideous; the guitar solos are handled by Mike Romeo of
Symphony X. The band's songs blend thrashy riffing with a somewhat industrial sound indebted to late-period
Ministry and
Rob Zombie's solo output, with plenty of horror-movie keyboards to add a gothic edge. "Sally," with sex moans and a woman repeating "I saw the devil tonight" over a chugging industrial-rock guitar, seems particularly
Zombie-esque. One or two decent songs can be heard here: "I Am No One" boasts riffs and solos
Metallica would have killed for in their mid-'90s doldrums, and "Holy Mother" is a passable
Danzig pastiche (industrial era). But ultimately, this is a seriously non-essential album by a band picking bits and pieces of other, more talented performers' schtick and assembling a staggering scarecrow out of them. (And the
Elvis sample at the beginning of "Memphis Sorrow," which rips off hair metal blooze acts like
Junkyard with some extra goth swagger, is just a damn crime.) ~ Phil Freeman