The End
2010
I got into Glenn Danzig during his time with the Misfits and Samhain. The Misfits were a fun although sloppy celebration of punk rock and old horror movies. Samhain were slower and darker, but I was instantly pulled in by their sound. Then came Danzig the band and everything seemed to shift. With the Misfits and Samhain there was an aura of mystery around them. With Danzig the band that feeling was gone. Image was certainly important with the Misfits and Samhain. With Danzig the image took on the fake satanic quality that was laughable. All of a sudden Glenn was doing a lot of posing and acting tough. On top of the music from Danzig was very hit and miss for the most part. However that is the past because this time around Glenn and his band have managed to put together something worth noticing. From the hard pounding opener "Hammer of the Gods" I was immediately hopeful. The flow kept going after with tracks like the "Revengeful" and "Rebel spirit". Guitarist Tommy Victor (Prong, Ministry) provides many highlights with some sharp cutting riffs. He still mamanages to keep much of that dark plodding sound that has defined much of Danzig's work. Glenn himself has not sounded this comfortable in some time. On some of his album in the last twenty years he would very much overdue his vocals. Here he is much subtle and I prefer it. "On a wicked night" is a great example as it opens with the slow pace and Glenn just eases his voice into and just creates the mood as he goes along. The lyrics and general theme of the album are similar to Danzig previous outing. It's just that this time around there is more retraint and the album as a whole benefits greatly from that.
I disagree somewhat. Glenn might have been a bigger goof and a bigger blowhard in Danzig than he was in his other bands, but in my opinion the quality of his music was light years ahead of what he was doing with Samhain or even the Misfits (and I love both of those bands). I think it was just a question of how excellent the original rhythm section in Danzig was, and undoubtedly how much guidance Glenn was getting from Rick Rubin.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I totally agree with you that Danzig's output these days is a hell of a lot better than it has been since about Danzig 4. He seems to have found his muse again.