Misfits - Friday the 13th (2016)
Occasionally, something rare will happen in the world, like an earthquake, a new disease being discovered, or in this case, even more concerning: A release by the Jerry Only-era Misfits that I actually like for what it is. You read that right, I actually dig parts of this EP, which has FOUR songs instead of TWO for a change! I think "Friday the 13th", "Nightmare on Elm Street", and "Laser Eye" are all cheesy as fuck, especially with the repeated "KILL KILL KILL" in the title track, but melodically they sound like they could've come off of "Famous Monsters", which isn't exactly a high point for the band, but dammit, they're finally doing something that sounds like it could've come from somewhere BEFORE the Jerry Only-era! I don't know just how much freedom he's allowed his son, Jerry Jr, to have on guitar, but obviously he must know what he's doing, because at least his son gets what the Misfits sounded like once upon a time, even if it's reminiscent of a (by their standards) somewhat underwhelming release. The band finally sounds like they're putting out material that'd potentially be fun to hear live, even if they don't necessarily become fan-favorites.
That being said, what the actual fuck is the last song, "Mad Monster Party"? That's the only song on here I don't like. It's cheesy as shit, which is obvious from the title, and I SWEAR TO GOD it copies some of the melody from "I'm a Stupid Cat!" by Mike Polk Jr. Don't believe that Jerry Only would copy a silly song about a cat on YouTube? Just listen to them both! Sure, the melody isn't the EXACT same throughout the entire song, but when I heard "Mad Monster Party", I couldn't shake the feeling that I had heard the song before!! Ah well, disregarding that song, you've got three others that sound pretty decent, even if they're not at all reminiscent of the Glenn Danzig-era material that all Misfits fans worth their salt have come to love and adore. I may not be the most excited about this material as I was with the Misfits classics, but I gotta say.. I wouldn't be the most opposed to hearing this stuff live. It's a step in the right direction after many missteps, even if it's still not what the majority of us want.
7/10
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