When headbangers who haven't actually heard
the Bronx Casket Co. find out who the participants are, they think they know what to expect. A lineup that is led by
Overkill's
D.D. Verni and also includes people who have been with
Savatage (
Jack Frost) and
the Misfits (Myke Hideous) should be somewhere in the direction of thrash or power metal -- perhaps
Megadeth meets
Judas Priest, perhaps
Slayer and early
Metallica by way of
Iron Maiden and
Grim Reaper. But those who have discovered the dark, creepy pleasures of
the BCC have learned that they don't sound anything like that. Their focus is goth-drenched alternative metal, and the comparisons that have been relevant in the past -- including
Type O Negative,
White Zombie,
Nine Inch Nails, and
Spahn Ranch -- are still relevant on
Hellectric, an album that is aggressive yet moody, atmospheric and darkly melodic. The thing that separates
the BCC from other goth-minded artists is their sense of humor;
Hellectric is delivered with a big dose of irony. Song titles like "Mortician's Lullaby," "Little Dead Girl," and "Bleed with Me" underscore the band's ironic nature, and the fact that the instrumental "Motocrypt" incorporates the theme from The Munsters tells you everything you need to know. But it gets even better: the album contains an unlikely -- very unlikely -- remake of
Lynyrd Skynyrd's "Free Bird," which
the BCC takes out of Southern rock and gives a goth makeover. It certainly isn't how one expects "Free Bird" to sound, but
the BCC manages to pull it off. Goths have been accused of taking themselves too seriously, but on
Hellectric, the goth element projects a sense of humor -- and the end result is one of the most memorable alt-metal/gothic metal releases of late 2005.