Misfits: American Psycho

On paper, it sounds like a loathesome sellout, or at least a cruel hoax: The two remaining members of the legendary horror-punk band Misfits have won the legal rights to the name from former frontman Glenn Danzig. Once that mission was complete (in 1995), the two men found a new drummer, as well as a singer who sounds more than a little bit like Danzig did before he devolved into bloated, melodramatic self-parody in the 1990s. And, of course, they released their first new studio album in 14 years: Titled American Psycho, it's got 18 songs full of horror-movie imagery and musclebound riffs. Sounds pretty exploitative and terrible, doesn't it But while it's bound to be reviled as an example of opportunistic grave-robbing—and it does seem awfully calculated—it's hard to deny that American Psycho is a pretty damn good Misfits record. The group does a number of things right, but most importantly, it keeps its new songs nice and tight; the longest song here (the hitworthy "Dig Up Her Bones") runs three minutes and one second, while the average is about two minutes. Consequently, while the ideas and execution are nothing new, American Psycho's anthems play out with brevity and speed in mind. And it's a lot more fun to listen to than anything Danzig has done in ages. Lots of records are better in theory than in practice; this one's the other way around, and you have to admire the new Misfits for pulling that off.