Danzig

I was born in 1988, and I bought a copy of this album the second I was out of the womb. TRUE STORY.

Danzig has short hair now! Woah! But cutting his hair has given him super metal powers, as this is the best Danzig album of them all! Heavy drum beats, pounding bass, and classic metal riffs. Awww yeah, this is how it should be. You'll be headbanging like it's the '80's all over again. "Twist of Cain" is a great album opener, then you've got all sorts of dark but upbeat tracks like "Am I Demon," "Possession," and "Not Of This World," not to mention the infamous "Mother," that made him popular with the MTV metalheads for a couple months back there. "Twist of Cain" and "Possession" were originally Samhain songs, but Danzig does a way better job of 'em. Unfortunately, when it comes to bad songs on good albums, "Soul On Fire" has got to be right up there as one of the worst, and "She Rides" should be a couple minutes shorter - it drags like all hell (breaks loose - hahaha, I should win a medal for being so witty! Or should I say "metal!" I'm on a roll today, kids!). But you know what? I'm still giving it a 10. Just listen to "The Hunter," that's rock done right.

I know nothing about metal, but I know what I like. Don't call my bluff.

Lucifuge is not bad, but it's no Danzig I, either. You see, all the songs on this CD fit into one of two categories: either an attempt at remaking Danzig I, or some sort of macho-I'm-so-evil acoustic song. I listened to "I'm The One" through once, and that's more than enough for the rest of my life. What an awful song.

Anyway, the first four songs I thought were pretty awesome, particulary "Snakes of Christ." The only problem is, it was like I was listening to Danzig I all over again. Then I hit "I'm The One" and it was all downhill from there. Okay, okay, "Devil's Plaything" was kinda catchy, and "Her Black Wings" and "777" wouldn't be that bad if they weren't so unbelievably long. Overall, though, this is Danzig's creative slump CD. He wants to move on without alienating fans of Danzig I, so as a result, the CD is more or less a repeat of that album. But don't cry yet, emo kids, (Are there any emo kids who listen to Danzig? I'd give them a sandwich or something) because ol' Glenn isn't finished yet.

It's still deserving of an 8, though, because the songs that are good are just plain awesome. I mean, I could listen to "Snakes of Christ" over and over and over. And "It's A Long Way Back From Hell?" Now that is one sweet opening track. Too bad the second half of the album drags so much.

This is a quick recovery from Lucifuge, and a step in the right direction. Some people hate this album, because it's very slow. Normally, I hate slow songs because I have a criminally short attention span from years of useless school lessons. However, I think this album is great. It is very dark compared to the straight-up metal of the past two albums, and works very hard to create some sort of moody atmosphere. But I'll say this - this is where Danzig starts going over the top in his attempts to be "evil." Before, he was just having fun with rock, but now he's all serious, demonic, and...symbolic. But I'm a fan of Samhain (yeah...) so I'm already used to all this stuff.

But hey, we've still got all sorts of great rock songs that could've been on Danzig I, like "Left Hand Black" and "Dirty Black Summer." There's just more ballad-like stuff, ("Sistinas") and most of the rock is really slowed down. "When the Dying Calls" and "Heart of the Devil" are actually really good, if you are fine with slow songs. And did anyone else notice that "How the Gods Kill" sounds like "Twist of Cain," but really slow and emotional sounding? That's okay, "Twist of Cain" was awesome. It's a good thing Danzig is trying to be different, rather than remaking Danzig I for the rest of his career.

The 3 new songs are okay. "Trouble" is a remake of a Samhain song that was a goth rewrite (yeah...) of an Elvis song. It's better than Samhain's version though, as every redone Samhain song is. The other 2 are fairly straightforward metal songs, like something off of Lucifuge. I heard "It's Coming Down" has a really explicit, gory music video, which only piques my intense curiosity. For an EP, this is pretty good, but I'm willing to bet most people bought it for the half-naked demon chick on the front.

This album is really...textur-y. I mean, Danzig I and II were really straightforward, but this one is fairly experimental for rock that isn't of the prog persuasion. I, for one, miss Danzig's energy. I mean, everything used to be all riffs and him not taking himself seriously. What happened? It's so dark and moody. The songs are so long and drawn out; they tear at my attention span. I wish he'd add some cool riffs or solos in there like the old days. Instead, we get an industrial groove feel. I wouldn't recommend this album to anyone just starting on Danzig, because I found it fairly boring. It does have its good moments, like the aforementioned "I Don't Mind The Pain," "Going Down To Die," and "Brand New God," but they're drowned out by Danzig's attempts to be some sort of gothic industrial band. Unfortunately, it was a mere shadow of the horror that was to come.

I kept hoping the industrial sound was only on a few songs, but oh, it wasn't. It was the entire album. Everything is drowned out by synthesized instruments, and Danzig's voice is filtered through one of those things that make it all synthesizer-y. I don't know what they're called because I don't listen to crappy music, thanks. I can't even describe the horror. Every song sounds the same - bad. I could barely sit through it. The lyrics are the same as ever, but are ruined by a horrible arrangement. You can still hear how good Danzig's voice is, but it's ruined by whatever thing it's filtered through. This is like something you'd hear played at your local goth club, so in other words, worthless. Don't touch, or it will crush your soul and leave you a lifeless husk of your former being.

The most annoying bit is that the guitars have this chug-chug-chug quality to them, rather than sounding all intricate and metal-y like before. There's probably a way I can describe that using musical terminology, but I never took the subject past elementary school. It sounds like a garage punk/metal band sloppily covering Danzig, rather than the actual band Danzig. Man, I miss the old lineup. Just come back to rock already. I hate industrial. Glenn's voice is starting to sound really hoarse on this album. I hope it's just bad production, because I don't want Danzig to have to retire.

Danzig's voice sounds really hoarse, and in the pictures with the album, he's really starting to show his age. Yikes. I know how he looks has nothing to do with the album, but it makes me worry that perhaps it's too late in his career to ever return to the better Danzig days. I guess we're all going to age though, it just surprised me to see one of my idols looking so drained. The lyrics are starting to get really pathetic. I don't mean "he's trying too hard to be evil" pathetic - if you were paying attention, we were at that by the third album. I mean crap like, "Angel Blake lived by the lake, threw her in and she floated like a snake." This is a depressing album for me, because I'm now fully aware that Danzig, who I always believed would be around forever, is almost through. How emo. Even the rock tracks that I would've loved to hear breaking up the sludgy former albums, like "Kiss The Skull" and "I Luciferi," seem tired and cliched. Again, it seems like someone covering Danzig, and not actually Danzig. It's a bit better than Danzig 6:66, but not enough to get an 8.

Why Danzig, why? Why were you trying to cash in on industrial and nu-metal during the prime of your life? Now that you've finally realized your error and want to return to the hard, rough metal that made you, it's too late - your vocals are completely shot.

It's sheer torture listening to the awesome, pounding riffs and surprisingly good song structures of songs like "Skincarver," "1000 Devils Reign," and best of all, title track "Circle of Snakes," only to hear Danzig's weak, tired vocals made so muddy in the mix in a futile attempt to cover up the fact that his voice has completely lost all its power. This would have been a great album - 10 years ago. Just imagine, a Lucifuge-era Danzig screaming out "Ride like the devil!" But today, it just sounds like a dated attempt by a has-been to keep raking in the cash. I guess he has to compensate to make up for the amount of dough the Newfits are making by licensing the Crimson Skull to scrunchies.

This is supposedly Danzig's last album before he retires to make horror movies, but he should've thrown in the towel in 1994. I can only hope that bizarro-sounding voodoo movie he's got coming up can top this, because it would be a pity if this was the note Danzig went out on.