A Very Danzig Desert Island...
Apr 04 '00
Well, this time Epinions has really done it to me, flying me out to a secluded island somewhere in the middle of nowhere, dropping me through the hatch with nothing but my cd player, a year's worth of Maxim magazines, a lifetime supply of ramen noodles, a solar hot pot, and ten CD’s featuring the 'Evil Elvis' himself, dark metal singer Glenn Danzig.
Danzig's voice has been haunting the metal and punk industry since his earliest days in Lodi, NJ with the cult band The Misfits. He has been around the heavy music industry for the better part of twenty-five
years, in a career that has spanned four bands, and a solo opera record. He is a masterful musician, with a terrific voice. So, in picking my favorite all time ten Danzig records, I really had to take a long look over
his musical timeline. What I found were ten brilliantly diverse records that really conveyed his true excellence, through his music.
Listed in no particular order, here are the ten:
10) Danzig III: “How the Gods Kill”
This incredible record from 1993 contains some of Danzig's most melodic and entertaining tracks. The heavy, in your face tune "Dirty Black Summer" is punctuate by some terrific playing on the part of Eerie
Von, John Christ and Chuck Biscuits, and a wicked dog like bark on the part of Glenn. The song has all the metal fervor of some of the great metal songs ever written. Heavy and fierce, it is a true metal classic.
In sharp contrast is the title track: "How The Gods Kill", is a bluesy, melodic song, that allows Glenn to put his full crooning skills on display. Their are plenty of other wonderful tracks packed into this record as well, like the classics: ”Left Hand Black”, “Sistinas” and “When the Dying Calls”.
9) Misfits – “Static Age”
The first Misfits record, which brought the boys from Lodi, NJ out into the mainstream of punk music. With all their B-horror movie related lyrics, and dancey punk chords, they put forward their unique brand of punkish hardcore. The debut record contains some of the best Misfits tunes in existence. Classics found on this record are the slow and emotional, ”Hybrid Moments”, the upbeat and trippy, ”TV Casualty”, and the pit pleasing, crowd favorite ”Last Caress”. This is an essential record for anybody’s punk music collection, let alone a desert island with nothing but Glenn Danzig music. His voice is in complete command of all the stylized punk tunes present on this record.
8) Danzig – “Danzig I”
The 1988 debut of the band Danzig is a true metal classic. Featuring extremely listenable metal rhythms filled with bluesy fervor. It features the original version of the metal classic "Mother", as well as the excellent songs: "She Rides", "Possession”, “Evil Thing” and “Am I Demon?”. The song ”Twist of Cain” is as intense of an opening on a record as possible. This is the first coming of Danzig, in which Eerie Von’s bass playing, John Christ’s guitar playing and Chuck Biscuits drum skills really come full circle and into focus. This is a must on the Glenn Danzig desert island as well.
7) Samhain – “Initium”
The first demented record from the totally out there band Samhain. Glenn’s vocals are totally distorted and punked out her on this loud and often bizarre sounding metal record,. This hard to find Plan 9 record release contains ten truly deep and dark tracks, neatly crafted by Mr. Danzig to contain all the metal anger and darkness possible. Often called the “Bloody Head” album because of its gory cover, this record is filled with awesome loud music. Great cuts on this record are: ”Samhain”, “Horror Biz”, “The Shift”, “All Murder, All Guts, All Fun”, “Macabre” and “He-Who-Can-Not-Be-Named”. This is a truly dynamic, genuinely terrific record.
6) Misfits – “Earth AD”
Another one of the greatest punk records ever put out, and one of my favorites of all time, this record is jam packed with terrific song after terrific song. Danzig croons as Jerry Only and Doyle play on the classics: ”Mommy, Can I Go Out And Kill Tonight?”, “Green Hell”, “Devilock”, “Death Comes Ripping”, “Wolfs Blood” and “We Bite”. This is just an all around terrific record, that is a must for your punk collection as well. I get so very excited just thinking about this record. It is an intense punk/hardcore album, laden with finger-snapping punk chords, dancey beats, and the phenomenal croon of Mr. Danzig.
5) Glenn Danzig – “Black Aria”
This out of print, gem of a collectors item, was Glenn’s solo opera record. Very little singing is present on the album. Glenn played all the music present himself. It is a record which shows his true brilliance, while brining forth eerie, haunting dirges that will spook the heck out of you ear drums, but will strangely please you at the same time. The music is spooky metal that is filled with elements of industrial, goth and punk. It is an original masterpiece, to which the likes I’ve never seen anything similar.
4) Danzig – “4P”
This 1994 album was the band Danzig’s final appearance in their most entertaining, most influential form. After this record, Chuck Biscuits, Eerie Von, and John Christ all left the band, and Glenn went off in a much more industrial, experimental direction. This record however, is a final, awesome testament to this terrific band. The music is full and rich, and deep and dark. Danzig’s vocals are strong and drone on and on as he croons through the terrific songs: ”Cantspeak”, “Going Down To Die”, “Little Whip”, “Until You Call on The Dark”, and “Brand New God”. This is a phenomenal record top to bottom. It was a record that signaled the end of the band as it was, but still managed to put forth their true metal majesty.
3) Less Than Zero Movie Soundtrack
OK, I know this is not a Danzig record. However, this 1987 soundtrack contains one of my favorite Glenn Danzig songs of all time. The band was Glenn Danzig and The Power And Fury Orchestra. The song was called: ”You and Me (Less Than Zero)” . It was produced by Rick Rubin, who so often collaborates with Glenn. A dark and foreboding song, it features Glenn on vocals backed by a full gospel choir. His vocals are extremely Roy Orbisonlike as he croons his way through the title cut of this haunting film in and of itself. There are several other great tunes on this soundtrack too, but I won’t go into them here. This song alone makes the album worthy of being on the Glenn Danzig desert island.
2) Misfits – “Walk Among Us”
Another of the completely terrific records put out by the Misfits. This record is one that features Arthur Googy on drums, and contains within it my personal favorite Misfits song of all time, the quick, fast punk ditty: ”20 Eyes”. It also is the record that features the classics: ”All Hell Breaks Loose”, “Vampira”, “Night of the Living Dead”, “Devil’s Whorehouse”, “Braineaters”, as well as the slow, and intense ”Skulls” which is one of the songs that first connotes towards the birth of Glenn’s eventual band, Danzig. As with the other Misfits records I mentioned earlier, this is a total must for your hard music collection.
1) Danzig – “Danzig II – Lucifuge”
This 1990 record is my favorite by the band Danzig. It is to date, the most bluesy work they ever put out. In addition to that, it is completely heavy and entertaining as well. Top to bottom it is a dark, poignant metal record, that both allows Glenn to sing his evil heart out, and allows the band to show their musical diversity. Great songs totally worth listening ot on this record are: ”Girl”, “Killer Wolf”, “Snakes of Christ”, “777”, “Her Black Wings” and “Blood and Tears”. The song, ”I’m The One” is done in classic twelve bar blues format, and is a completely, original, entertaining song, and a daring one for a band like Danzig to pull off. The do it perfectly, as Glenn’s vocals glisten off John Christ’s terrific acoustic guitar playing. The song ”Devil’s Plaything”, in sharp contrast, is a heavy, intense, all out metal track that allows Glenn to hit the high notes, while inspiring big time moshing. This a completely excellent record. It is a virtual must on this Danzig list.
Well there you have it, ten dark classics from the ‘Evil Elvis’, or the ‘Dark Jim Morrison’, as I like to call him. The evil present on these records will probably force my little desolate island to become more like ”Lord of the Flies” then ”Paradise Found”, but that’s O.K>, because my quota of dark metal will be met by this entertaining, enthralling musician.
If you are not familiar with any of these records, you should certainly check them out. They’re all worth hearing and adding to your punk/hardcore and metal collections.
Thanks for reading!!!
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
tattooedjedi
|
 - Top 1000 |
|
Location: The North Side of Tattooine
Reviews written: 441
Trusted by: 324 members
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.