Plan 9-Man Made Monster

Nickel and Dime
2008



Plan 9 originally formed in San Francisco around 1997 as a one shot, one time Misfits tribute band. Now they have gone from being a tribute band to being full fledged act, well sort of. When you call yourself Plan 9 plus dress and sound like the Misfits then inevitably you are going to be compared to the Misfits. That's a tough standard to live up to because they did a lot of things so well despite lack of playing skills and decent production values. In fact those last items actually turned out to be part of the charm. Plan 9 aim for the sound and spirit of the Misfits with tracks such as "War of the worlds" and "Black dragon". The style is most similar to "Walk among us" material although a few of the faster tracks lean more towards the sound Earth A.D. One of the main things I learned from listening to this CD is that the Misfits' music is rather easy to simulate. However I also learned that Glenn Danzig's vocals (at their prime) are not as easy to copy. Vocalist Aaron Fuller shoots for Danzig's style and he does okay, but his lack of a real bit makes this feel a bit pale. They cover "Teenagers from Mars" and "We bite" in one selection that turns out alright. Yet their version of "We bite" had me realizing how ridiculously simple the music was yet Danzig attacked his part like a mad dog and turned it into a great song. Plan 9 lack that kind of energy, however they sound more comfortable on their original tracks. This is a fair enough tribute in it's own right and despite the credits it still is basically a tribute album. Ultimately it's fine, but after a few songs I just felt the urge to stop it and put the Misfits on instead.