fatdan_138's Full Review: Initium [Remaster] by Samhain
If you don't know already, Samhain was Glenn Danzig's first post-misfits offering... overall, their sound has less of the pop-qualities of misfits albums and a lot of darkness. The lyrics are incredibly graphic, so be warned.. they're hard to understand, but I wouldn't let the kids listen to this album. It's quite frightening.. Anyhow, if you're familiar with Danzig and the Misfits but not Samhain, basically these guys sound like a cross between the two.. the songs have the quick rhythms of Misfits songs, and are dark like Danzig songs are.. but they lack the pop nature of Misfits tune and the blues of Danzig tunes.
As is the case with most pre-Danzig albums that Danzig has been involved with, the recording quality ain't happening... you'll have to give it quite a few listens to hear everything that's going on. Just be warned.. this is by no means polished material.
My CD copy is that supposedly "Rare" [according to misfitscentral.com, that is] second pressing, so it contains the first track from "Unholy Passion" but none of the rest of that album. Just so you know.
Track by Track review:
1) Initium -- Very dark spoken introduction.. basically a bunch of crazy, dark sound effects and Glenn Danzig talking about how the end is nigh. Great introduction, sounds really cool.
Samhain -- the CD version that I own segues immediately into this without changing tracks, so I'll count it as track 1. Right off the bat, you can tell these aren't anything like the Misfits... the music has this really eerie feel to it, very strange sound. Far from easy listening.
2) Black Dream -- I believe this song is about having an affair with an angel of Satan.. pretty dark. Check out the crazy percussion in the background, especially the bell. I mean, this is just amazingly evil music.. very well done.
3) All Murder, All Guts, All Fun -- The first real sing-along song on this album... this is an incredibly gruesome song glorifying murdering somebody.. pretty cool stuff, really dark, really evil.. man, though, these guys were pretty sick. I mean, this is a very graphic song.
4) Macabre -- A tune about the pain of birth and death.. there's an eerie silence right in the middle of the track, something that I really don't understand. Anyhow, it's a really slow tune, not a blues song though.. just a slow metal song.
5) He-Who-Can-Not-Be-Named -- this sounds like a misfits song, actually.. it doesn't have any of the dark undertones of the other tracks. "This power can not be / Formless / Faithless / And free"... it's not gruesome like the other tracks. Good, smooth track.
6) Horror Biz -- an extremely dark cover of the old 'Fits classic, "Horror Business"... I like this version a lot better than the original. This is hard, raw, and extremely fast... I think that this is actually how Danzig intended the song to sound.. that all depends on whose side you take in the whole Jerry Only and Doyle versus Glenn Danzig controversy, though.. anyhow, this is well done. I mean, this is a popish song by nature, but Samhain really brings out the dark side. Sounds very spooky, very evil.
7) The Shift -- oh geez. I love the lyrics and the music to this one.. very slow, almost like a march, I guess. Graphic, too: "The shift starts, the growl comes from the stomach up / Back from the base of the vertebrae / Razorback, hair straight up / Fluid shoots from your mouth and lungs"... this is a very dark song, much more mature than the old Misfits punk tunes. I love the chord progression, too.. it sounds a little bit like Danzig's early solo stuff, in my opinion.
8) The Howl -- an awfully gory song about a human slaughterhouse, wherein those who try to ignore it wind up as dinner. "There is a grove of bleached bones / Where lupins vomit children's limbs /Taking all their liberties / With parts of human anatomy".. man, you just can't get away with writing that sort of stuff nowadays. It's a fast tune, too.. and there are lots of cool howls and stuff going on in the mix.. overall, it's another really spooky track, very well written.
9) Archangel -- This was originally intended to be a Misfits song.. I think there's a bootleg version of the 'Fits playing it somewhere, correct me if I'm wrong. Anyhow, this is a great song. It sounds just like other Misfits tunes, although the theme is a little bit darker.. "Heaven sends me here to you / And if a-you fear you've reason to / Open up all seven seals / The beast is come to claim the youth".. crazy stuff. By the way, check out the howls during the verses. That's just awesome stuff... very dark sound, and a very long song, since it comes in at around 5 minutes. In my opinion, the best song on this album.
10) Unholy Passion -- not really a track from this album, but who cares? It's a pretty nifty tune, strung together with more feedback than the Initium songs are.. I haven't heard Samhain's second album, so I can't say much about this song relative to that one. It's a cool tune, we can leave it at that.
Overall, I was impressed by the songs that were on this album.. However, I must say that there simply wasn't enough music here.. the thing clocks in at under a half hour, which isn't even close to long enough, in my opinion. It's a good album, don't get me wrong, but could stand to be longer. Hence my 4-star rating.
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