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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Evil at its Best, October 23, 2003
I've never been much of a Misfits fan, but having heard a few songs from them, I can honestly say that this eponymous band of Glenn Danzig, the singer of that famous punk rock group, is far better. I've been getting into Danzig's for a few months now, buying each album in order to hear the progression they've made. And indeed, with each album, they get better and better (so far, DANZIG III: HOW THE GODS KILL is the best - review to come!). Here, this album is a little rough around the edges, but it is undeniably a great piece of laid-back hard rock.Glenn Danzig is a very talented singer. He has a powerful voice that carries a sort of Mississippi Delta/New Orleans twang, which complements the bluesy feel to the songs. He's an interesting, if not original, songwriter, most of the songs seeming to gloat how he is evil in one way or another, but with a sort of smirking, sexual, yet altogether tongue-in-cheek crooning. It's like Elvis Presley and Jim Morrison meet Christopher Lee...if that makes any sense. The riffs and patterns are simple, the subject matter dark and somewhat silly, but this is very good stuff from a fairly straightforward hard rock band. There is a distinctly bluesy feel to the album and many of the songs. Take, for instance, "Twist of Cain." Such a simple and repetitive song, but I'll be damned if it isn't catchy ("Yea, twist of Cain, yeah, drives my brain, yea..." - with the blues rhythm and voice, how can that NOT be catchy?!). Also, "She Rides" is especially bluesy. And of course, there's the now-classic hit "Mother" (which would not gain fame until 1993), with its brief but dazzling solos and, of course, catchy chorus. Just about every song on here is catchy. In some ways this particular Danzig album reminds me of the Doors (a la the crooning) and AC/DC (the bluesy but heavy rock). However, unlike the latter band, most of Danzig's songs aren't clones of one another. This is a terrific album. It's catchy and fun; evil at its best.
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