Wednesday 13 at the Manchester Club Academy

By Anya Baxter.

Horror punk / heavy metal icon Wednesday 13 transformed Manchester's Club Academy for an excited crowd, resulting in a spooky memorable night of fun and hardcore music.

Photos by Anya Baxter.

Famously the frontman of Murderdolls, Joseph Michael Poole, aka Wednesday 13, has been combining horror themes with punkish metal since 1992. The blend results in a mix of macabre lyrics and ghoulish concepts to excite any crowd and create a performance unlike any other.

Photos by Anya Baxter

Opening the set with "Blood Sucker", Wednesday took to the stage along with his corpse painted band, setting the tone for the night. Hardcore horror fans would recognise Wednesday's face paint as being reminiscent of The Exorcist's Captain Howdy. Following this came "Scream Baby Scream" and "Look What the Bats Dragged In".

Photos by Anya Baxter

"My Home Sweet Homicide" came next, taken from Wednesday's 2006 album Fang Bang. "I Want You... Dead" and "From Here to the Hearse" saw the crowd become more lively as the night went on, intensified by a Murderdolls cover of "Nowhere" along with a Frankenstein Drag Queens From Planet 13 (Wednesday's other previous band) cover of Die My Bride. Fans who have been there from the start thoroughly enjoyed these tributes to where it all began.

After a one of a kind gig, the night came to a close, having renewed the crowd's love for Wednesday 13, who live is as entertaining as his lyrics, and brings the horror in his music to life with his performance.