The sudden explosion of punk in the '70's symbolized that the reign of bloated guitar solos and studio effects was over. Punk was all about simplicity, and the Misfits not only mastered the art of 2 minute jams, but single-handedly pioneered the horror punk genre, which has spawned such well known bands as AFI, and, uh, yeah, AFI! Straight out of New Jersey, the Misfits were composed of vocalist Glenn Danzig, bassist Jerry Only, and a revolving door of drummers and guitarists. Instead of singing about politics or girls, the Misfits sung about horror movies and killing people. Woo! But they had a tendency to blame each other whenever anything went wrong, and finally called it a day in 1983.
Ohhh yeah, nothing showcases what the Misfits were all about better than this album. You've got all of Glenn Danzig's classic styles: psychobilly, the trademark "woooahhh" chants, and the classic fist pumping tracks, all just waiting to slice your throat open. Every song on this CD could easily have been a single.
"20 Eyes," "Skulls," and "Astro Zombies" mix 1950's harmonies with horror movie lyrics, but we can already see that Danzig is moving away from that with the track "Mommy Can I Go Out and Kill Tonight?," which foreshadows the hardcore sound they would be trying for by Earth A.D. "Devil's Whorehouse," "Violent World," and "All Hell Breaks Loose" are much harder, with Danzig proving why he's the best vocalist for this band by screaming and wailing his way among the chunky guitars and three-chord bashing. Just when you think they can't top themselves, it ends off with the hilarious horrific drinking song, "Braineaters," that pokes fun at their own genre of music. Oh, those Misfits. This was their best line up, and it's obvious.
Those goth kids think their lyrics are dark, but they haven't heard such lines as "The corpses all hang headless and limp, bodies with no surprises, and the blood drains down like devil's rain, we'll bathe tonight." Wooahh! With its catchy hooks and choruses, even if the lyrics are sometimes a bit cheesy, Walk Among Us has unlimited replay value, and deserves its reputation as a fan favourite. It makes you want to run naked through suburbia covered in fake blood and screaming "Fiend Club! Yeeaaaah!"
Or maybe just me.
The Misfits take a 21 minute stab at hardcore/thrash metal. This CD is like a cross between the Dead Kennedys in their In God We Trust, Inc. days and early Black Flag. Unfortunately, extremely low quality recording is what ruins it. Danzig's vocals should be stronger, and the guitars are too quiet. It's hard to tell if all these songs sound the same because they just do, or if the shoddy mixing job is what makes them sound that way.
But hey, it's not all bad. I mean, c'mon, it's impossible not to like "Death Comes Ripping," "Bloodfeast" is slow and eerie enough to be a Samhain song (because it was supposed to be, oh ho ho!), "Devilock" is good to shout at random passerby, even if it was named after their hairstyle, and "Demonomania" is so short it's good. Plus bonus track "Die Die My Darling" will rock you right to your boxers. Or whatever.
This is a compilation of the Misfits' earlier stuff, from 1977-81, so it often sounds a bit disjointed. But we get to hear Danzig and the boys in all their low-fi, slowed down glory, plus classic track "Halloween" and the one high school bands love to cover, "Where Eagles Dare!" The demo-like low sound quality of many of the recordings might annoy you at first, but if you're already a Misfits fan, it's no skin off your back.
There are a whole bunch of tracks on here with the classic Misfits sound, like "Hybrid Moments," and most of the rock tracks are far slower than what they put out in their later years. But because the mixing focuses a lot on Danzig's vocals, we get to hear some of his best work in songs like "She." And "Come Back" is 5 minutes long! That came outta nowhere! The last track on the CD, "American Nightmare," has Danzig doing a dead-on impression of Elvis to a twisted country groove and handclaps. Despite the slowness and low-fi sound of the tracks, this is a great CD for a Misfits fan, but newcomers to the band might want to start with one of their better recorded ones.
This was supposed to be the Misfits' first ever release, but their label screwed them over and only released a single with four songs on it. It's only now that we finally get to hear it the way it was intended to be heard.
Many of these songs are already on Legacy of Brutality, but that's okay, because you not only get their hard to find popular earlier singles, like "Last Caress," "Bullet," and "Teenagers From Mars," but also non-album tracks that took years after the death of the band to be released, like "Return of the Fly" and "In the Doorway." It's standard Misfits fare with a great variety of tracks, and a good place for beginners to start. There's no filler on this, kids.
Anyway, uh, it's kind of hard for me to review this, because since a lot of this stuff was released on other albums or as alternate versions, it's sort of a "best of" CD. There's nothing I can really say that hasn't already been mentioned before. It's a good selection of tracks, with a nice balance between their different incarnations. The only downside is that it mostly focuses on their psychobilly tracks, since that's the style they were focusing on at the very beginning, and isn't as hard-hitting as some of their other stuff.
Anyway, with or without the history behind 12 Hits From Hell, it is an incredible album. It's all the Misfits' best tracks (such as "Halloween," "Astro Zombies," "Where Eagles Dare," "Violent World") with amazing production quality courtesy of Caroline's giant budget. You can actually hear the instruments and the vocals at the same time! And the drums, bass, and guitars sound seperate, instead of one big mash! This is the way the Misfits were made to be heard - with plenty of power. Just one blast of the drum intro of "Violent World" or the bass intro of "Where Eagles Dare" out of your sorry, ill-prepared speakers will convince you that it is a crime against humanity that this CD is not being released. This CD showcases all the Misfits best tracks, and in true Misfits style, it hits you hard and fast. 12 Hits clocks out at just over 24 minutes, so listen to it twice through.