The Pointy Shoe Factory

The Pointy Shoe Factory's new album takes off like a sinister steam engine. The guitar and bass create a train rhythm, with ooohhh-ing vocals, spazzy saxophone sounds and demonic screams riding the rails to the end of the line on this seven-minute, 38-second silent film soundtrack appropriately titled "The Horror Train." This is just one of the endearingly bizarre moments on this album, which also includes "The Pirate Song," a melancholy, menacing rendition of "Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum/Dead men tell no tales" and "Ain't Goin Out No More," a Negro spiritual-like a cappella number with the line "This world is hell and it suits me well." The doom and gloom can also get tiresome. Should you laugh or wince when "The Killer" starts with "I'm going to dress in all black and scream at people"? But the eclectic sounds--Spanish guitar and gypsy violin as well as nods to Nick Cave and German industrial band Einstürzende Neubauten--keep the journey interesting.