Away Team

DANZIG – Deth Red Sabaoth
Evillive Records

7 out of 10

1988 – Glenn Danzig released Danzig I. I remember it well. Never having grown up on punk I didn’t know about Samhain or the Misfits. But I heard that James Hetfield of Metallica was doing background vocals on this song about cocaine, and well, I was hooked the first time I heard ‘Twist of Cain’.
Danzig’s first two albums were stellar works. And there are a handful of songs on the last 7 albums that I still listen to, but overall the production and the songwriting has deteriorated from album to album.

2010 – Deth Red Sabaoth is released; it is Danzig’s ninth studio album and may very well be his best in 20 years. Upon first listen he still has that ‘rough’ production feel. Leaving the guitars very gritty while other parts of the production are overlaid quite polished and pristine. The first song to jump out at me on first listen is ‘On a Wicked Night’ with its acoustic opening and stripped down sound. Stark, barren, and ominous it leaves one envisioning a bleak winter’s dead forest, breath hanging frozen in the air, and unspeakable beings swirling around just out of sight.
Immediately following is ‘Deth Red Moon’ almost as a reprise to ‘On a Wicked Night’ the guitar work is nonstop and frenetic throughout the song.
The opening to ‘Ju Ju Bone’ is a spoken piece by Glenn who seems to be channeling Elvis Presley not only while speaking but his inflection while singing gives the listener pause, This ‘sounds’ like a Danzig song, but damn, Is that Elvis singing ‘JU JU Bone’? Again, very solid guitar work and soloing throughout the song.
‘Pyre Of The Souls: Incanticle’ is a direct descendant from Glenn Danzig’s Arias. Leading into the darkest, heaviest of the albums tracks ‘Pyre of the Souls: Seasons of Pain’.
The final cut, ‘Left Hand Rise Above’ starts out almost as an epic, a very grandeur opening leading to a sparse soundscape of verses crescendo rising only to fall on the sparse musical landscape of the next verse.
While this is not Danzig I or Danzig II level music, it is definitely his strongest material since How the Gods Kill and his most cohesive album by far.
You can pick up Deth Red Sabaoth today on Amazon and download it on Amazon mp3.

For more information visit Danzig‘s website here.