By:
Daniel Jackson
Album Type: Full Length
Date Released: 27/11/2015
Label: Nuclear
Blast/Evilive
“Skeletons” would have been an awesome opportunity to work with a
variety of musicians, those better equipped to handle specific songs and play
up their advantages. The recording
quality varies wildly from song to song, as does the overall execution of each
song. The strength of Danzig’s vocal performance is pretty consistent with
where he was at on ‘Deth Red Sabaoth’, perhaps even a bit better which, sadly,
makes it the album’s only consistently positive attribute.
‘Skeletons’ CD//LP//DD track listing:
1.
"Devil's Angels" (from Devil's Angels soundtrack)
2.
"Satan" (from Satan's Sadists soundtrack)
3.
"Let Yourself Go" (Elvis Presley)
4.
"N.I.B." (Black Sabbath)
5.
"Lord of the Thighs" (Aerosmith)
6.
"Action Woman" (The Litter)
7.
"Rough Boy" (ZZ Top)
8.
"With a Girl Like You" (The Troggs)
9.
"Find Somebody" (The Young Rascals)
10.
"Crying In The Rain" (The Everly Brothers)
Danzig is:
Glenn
Danzig | Vocals
Tommy
Victor | Guitar
Johnny
Kelly | Drums
The Review:
In
lieu of doing a more traditionally formatted review, in which I would normally
break down the positives and negatives of an album, I’m going to frame this
more as if I were addressing Danzig directly. Danzig’s had an enormous impact on my life dating back to
the mid 90s when I first heard the band’s debut album. If this comes across as
self-serving, I apologize, but this seems to be the only way I feel I can
communicate my feelings about this album.
I
first heard Danzig in 1994 thanks to a childhood friend
who had the debut album. I was borderline obsessed with finding all of the
band’s albums and learning whatever information I could. I was twelve at that
point, and I had never heard anyone
deal with religion so subversively. In a sense Danzig
was a gateway into much darker musical interests. The music was so infectious,
and Danzig himself was so compelling, as the
chiseled rock god howling about fire and sex and demons.
Over
the next few years I found everything I could, buying up all of the albums available,
including Danzig 1-4, the first Danzig
VHS, “Black Aria” and the single for
“Dirty Black Summer” with “When Death Had No Name” as the b-side.
I even bought a used version of the box set version of ‘How the Gods Kill’, with the bonus VHS and the awesome H.R. Giger
artwork raised up from the box. I went on to buy damn near anything I could
find from The Misfits and Samhain,
and one of my great music fan regrets is that I didn’t snag the “13 Hits from Hell” promo from the
Virgin Megastore I worked at before they got called back after the release was
cancelled.
As
the years went on, I often found myself in the role of a Danzig
apologist, acknowledging that ‘Blackacidevil’
was a rough transition, but arguing that ‘Satan’s
Child’ brought a lot of what I loved about Danzig
early on, even if it was wrapped up in different dressing. I’ve grudgingly
admitted to myself that Danzig sounded hoarse
and tired after ”Blackacidevil”, and
that you can’t go around shoving enormous hardcore dudes without expecting some
fists to fly in response. And, while I’m in the middle of confession, I’ve
admitted to myself that “Circle of
Snakes” wasn’t all that good, though I still strongly contend that ‘Deth Red Sabaoth’ was his best record
since the days of the original Danzig lineup.
On
‘Deth Red Sabaoth’, Danzig’s voice seemed to come back to him. His singing was
at the level you’d hope for a man to sound like in his mid 50s and some 15
years after his last truly classic album. The songs were compositionally on
point, but the album’s production flaws did some real damage to the overall
presentation, and the album suffers as a result. To me, that makes the album a
victory, given all that had gone on leading up to the album’s release.
So
here we are. It’s 2015 and Danzig’s releasing ‘Skeletons’, the band’s first ever album
of cover songs. And as much as it kills me to say it; the album’s a mess. It’s
a collection of demos that desperately needed to be re-worked before being
released. The recording quality varies wildly from song to song, as does the
overall execution of each song. The strength of Danzig’s
vocal performance is pretty consistent with where he was at on ‘Deth Red Sabaoth’, perhaps even a bit
better which, sadly, makes it the album’s only consistently positive attribute.
Instrumentally,
Johnny Kelly and Tommy Victor are either uninspired or they’re actively
detrimental to the album. If this album really is a collection of rough demos
marketed as a finished album that might explain some of what’s going on. Tommy
Victor throws pinch harmonics around like he gets a bonus for each one he uses.
It feels as if someone were to make a supercut of every pinch harmonic he uses
on the album, it would still be half as long as this album. It’s distracting,
unnecessary, and ill-fitting at various points throughout the whole album.
Some
of the album’s instrumental issues come as a result of simply being the wrong
choice of style for the musicians involved. It’s hard to be mad at Johnny Kelly
for taking the wrong approach to “Let Yourself
Go”, for example, because he’s being asked to translate the drums for an
old R&B song into drums for a heavy metal song. I’m not even sure that
simply working with the original beat would work to Kelly’s strengths as a
drummer, leaving aside whether that style would even make sense in a metal
context. The idea behind the cover itself likely crippled the song before
tracking ever started. It’s obviously a great fit for Danzig’s
voice, but a poor choice for the remainder of the band.
In
that sense, “Let Yourself Go” acts
as a representation for the whole album. Whatever isn’t bad in concept is often
harmed by an individual or multiple performances throughout. Ideally, “Skeletons” would have been an awesome
opportunity to work with a variety of musicians, those better equipped to
handle specific songs and play up their advantages. Instead we have some of Danzig’s strongest vocal work of the last twenty years, and
a flat mess underneath it all.
I take absolutely no joy in being this harsh
on a Danzig album. I’m a huge fan, and his music
was there for me during some of the best and worst times in my life. It will be
in the future too. But I also believe in giving an honest assessment of an
album, and this one is dead on arrival. Danzig as a band is in
dire need of a shake up, and it is imperative
that they find a new, independent producer. Someone who can give the band a
good, consistent tone and challenge the band to do better than settle for
demo-quality recording and half-hearted performance. And to think what could
have been done when Danzig’s own
performance is as good as it is.
You
can pick up a Vinyl, CD or Digital copy here.
