Reviews

The formula is simple but deadly: vast amounts of horror rock pomp and circumstance pumped up with a silo of energy and, most crucially, an inexhaustible supply of the most ridiculously catchy songs ever.

You only have to listen to a few lines of I Walked With A Zombie, My Home Sweet Homicide or Die My Bride, and you too will screaming along and fiercely stabbing your devil horns in the air.

And I defy anyone not to bounce along to the pulsating chorus of Bad Things with its psychotic but hilarious chant of "I want bad things to happen to you! I want VERY bad things to happen to you!"

That’s not to say the gruesome five from North Carolina are predictable. Far from it. They’ve just cracked the code and put their own unique spin on some classic hardcore rock and roll riffs. 

Wednesday 13 himself, the lead singer Joseph Poole, admits he’s distilled the sounds of Alice Cooper, The Ramones, Motley Crue, The Sex Pistols and Pantera, but his nifty trick is to dress it up with his passion for horror movies.

And so the band look and behave like banshees thrashing every last drop of energy out of their instruments and leaping around as it they were on hot coals. It’s pure theatre with skulls galore, Rambo guns, Scooby Doo and a roadie in a Jason hockey mask all popping up on stage and in the crowd.

Wednesday 13 have only been around since 2004 and have been through several personnel changes, but the slickness and conviction of their performance is that of a big stadium band who’ve been playing to legions of loyal fans for eons.

Their genius exit song, I Love To Say **** had angsty teens spitting fury and banging heads in the mosh pit and had me laughing at and singing along with the daft but witty lyrics, as umbrellas emblazoned with the swear word were brandished in the air.

Halloween may have already evanesced into the misty Manchester air but Wednesday 13 stormed Academy 3 and managed to raise a little bit of hell again.