Oh please, it’s not as bad as its reputation suggests. In 2003, the Misfits again found themselves a broken band- Everyone save Jerry Only had quit or been fired, including Only’s brother Doyle. So, if you’re going to accept the Graves era Misfits as the “Misfits” (debatable for sure,) than Project 1950 is as much the Misfits as the two previous albums.

Really, one could argue that this was the most tasteful choice the band could have made. Instead of bringing in a bunch of unknowns and trotting them out as the New-New-Misfits, at least Only called up two certified punk legends- Dez Cadena and Marky Ramone- and made a new Misfits that, well, wasn’t really the Misfits, but was a cool band-one Misfit, one Ramone, one Black Flag. That’s cool.

Plus, instead of churning out dollar store horror punk out of a sense of duty or marketing, the trio flipped back to a genre for which they did seem to have great affection. The band blasted through ten punkified versions of doo wop classics. It made sense, being that’s the base of Danzig’s vocal training. And certainly, the band sure does seem to be having fun. The versions here are blocky and punchy, and that seems to be the point. For his part, Only does a respectable job of crooning away. He’s no Danzig, but who is. Honestly, if this was the Jerry-Marky-Dez band, critical review would have likely been better- though sales would have been much lower. Plus it has Ronnie Spector on it, which is cool.

For all the flack Jerry Only gets for this incarnation of the band, he could have taken a lot worse turns- did you check out Kryst the Conqueror? Jerry, Dez, and Marky playing the hits of the ‘50s is kind of cool. Sure, it’s not really the Misfits, but we’re all smart enough to see through the simple veil of market branding, aren’t we?

It’s fun. It’s fine. It’s not worth getting your undies in a twist over.