Horror punk icon Doyle of Misfits hits Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg on May 7
From a press release:
Misfits guitarist Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein will emerge from the fiery pits of New Jersey to bring his horror punk show to the Sherman Theater in Stroudsburg on Sunday, May 7.
Doyle has made his own distinct mark on the genre with his self-titled band while also touring with the original Misfits, including a limited run this summer. Salem’s Childe, Black Dawn, Regicide, and Quakertown pop punk/post-hardcore band Silence Is Survival are set to open this all-ages concert.
Doors at the Sherman (524 Main St., Stroudsburg) open at 6 p.m., and the music starts at 7 p.m.
General admission tickets, which are $25 in advance or $28 at the door, are on sale now at the Sherman Theater box office and online via shermantheater.com and Etix.
Lodi, a small borough of Bergen County, New Jersey, is just over two square miles. There’s not much to suggest that the small village would be the birthplace of a world-famous, blood-soaked form of music known as horror punk. Legendary acts Samhain and Danzig have their origins in Lodi, and something monstrous indeed lurks there. The poster child and an originator of the genre once again unleashed an evil noise on an unsuspecting world when Doyle Wolfgang Von Frankenstein released “Abominator” by his eponymous band in 2013.
Distributed through Doyle’s own label, Monsterman Records, his debut album is a sonically thick and lyrically evil slab of metal that finds him expanding in a logical progression upon the genre of music he helped create. “Abominator” is not the sound of some punk guitarist gone metal – it’s the roaring return of one of extreme metal’s original architects to his blood-splattered drawing board.
Coming from a legendary band of almost mythological proportions, and having first worked with one of the most talented and respected vocalists of the century, the infamous Glenn Danzig, Doyle’s project needed a singer with brass balls, cast-iron pipes, a suitably twisted mind, and his own vocal delivery style. Enter Alabama’s Alex Story of Cancerslug, a Southern fiend whose sand-blasted scream opens the record, and the evil doesn’t relent until the ending growl of “Hope Hell Is Warm,” the album’s defiant closer. The man can scream and sing, employing both styles to great effect, switching seamlessly from raw-throated roars to rough-edged, yet melodic, clean vocals. Story’s live performances can only be described as unforgettable, disturbing, and strangely addictive, a perfect complement to the already mammoth stage presence of Doyle himself.
The unmistakable sound of Doyle’s signature Annihilator guitar cuts through on every tune like a sonic fingerprint, starting with the snarling opening title track, “Abominator.” The Annihilator’s tone is sharp as a butcher’s knife in the wrong hands and just as nasty – fans of the Misfits will recognize it right away.
On tunes like “Headhunter” and “Land of the Dead,” the riffs are relentless and, if a riff could be described in emotional terms, remorseless. “Dreamingdeadgirls” brings a blackened-blues swing, and the doom-laden “Love Like Murder” shows a healthy appreciation for all things Sabbath. “Blood Stains” moves from primal sludge to ripping off-time thrash with ease. The album is just that – an album, a cohesive and well-executed piece of work that takes the listener on a journey, albeit a bloody journey to places some fear to tread.
As befits songs as musically dark as this, the lyrics are not for the faint of heart. Throughout the entire record, there is absolutely zero attempt to balance its evil with any sort of good counterpoint. Penned entirely by Story (probably in blood), “Abominator’s” lyrics are entirely and uncompromisingly dark. Music fans looking for feel-good anthems should best look elsewhere – those who enjoy strolling through the shadows will be greatly satisfied.
So how did this Jersey devil and crew wind up with a Dixie-bred howler?
“After I had written all this music, I realized I had to get someone to sing this stuff. Once I’m done recording guitars, all I can see is myself just playing that riff, ya know? That’s my thing, not lyrics and singing,” Doyle said with typically blunt candor.
“I’ve known Alex for a while, so I called him up, then sent him a bunch of the tunes. Two days later, he sent me back ‘Mark of the Beast,’ just like it is on the record. I said ‘That’s exactly what I want!’ and the rest is history. I only wrote the word ‘abominator’ – all the rest of that stuff is Alex. He’s just crazy, man.”
It’s a match made in hell. But no metal band would be complete without a complete animal behind the drum kit. Brandon “The Crusher” Pertzborn of Black Flag delivers all the aggression and insanity necessary (and then some) with his exquisite musicality and showmanship.
The band followed up their debut with “Doyle II: As We Die” in 2017, but their main focus is touring. So what can fans expect at a Doyle show?
“To get fucking pummeled, man. And then go home and ask themselves ‘What the fuck just happened to me?!?'” he replied with a laugh that this time, no joke about it, actually sounded evil.
Loud, aggressive, and technically proficient, Doyle and crew are always ready to show the world how true horror punk/metal sounds today. Let the beatings begin!
Photo by Scott Kucharski Photography/NEPA Scene
