RockBox - [Request] Danzig - Skeletons (Limited Edition) (2015)

[Request] Danzig - Skeletons (Limited Edition) (2015)

Heavy metal/doom rock from USA, latest full-length album released in 2015.

During his time in the seminal hardcore band the Misfits, vocalist Glenn Danzig displayed a fascination with outlandish, graphic, often gory imagery; in forming the more heavy metal-oriented band Samhain, Danzig's lyrics delved into typical metal subject matter, but took the concept of darkness to an extreme. After the demise of Samhain, Danzig formed his own eponymous band with Samhain guitarist John Christ, ex-Rosemary's Babies drummer Eerie Von on bass, and longtime hardcore drummer Chuck Biscuits (D.O.A., Black Flag, Circle Jerks); this band would prove a more effective vehicle for Danzig's obsession with the dark side. While that obsession can seem cartoonish at times, there is more to the band than meets the eye -- Danzig obviously relishes casting himself as the menacing, evil heavy metal frontman, and his theatricality often seems to indicate that his posturing is not meant to be taken very seriously. At the same time, the darkness of Danzig's vision has increasingly expressed itself over the band's career in a heavily romanticized, brooding, gothic sensibility, more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or Satanic, and the group's music progressed from simple, blues-based heavy metal riffs to more atmospheric, coldly haunting song textures that attempt to sonically replicate the feel of the lyrics.

Glenn Danzig co-founded the Misfits in Lodi, New Jersey in 1977. When the hardcore band broke up in 1983, Danzig formed the metallic, brooding Samhain in order to experiment with different sounds, but that project imploded as well. The band Danzig was put together in 1987, and quickly inked a deal with Rick Rubin's Def American label. Their self-titled debut found Danzig playing the Satanic metal singer role to the hilt, even if the band's songs sounded much the same. Danzig II: Lucifuge followed in 1990, and it broadened the band's musical palette, expanding on the simple blues riffs of the debut with more extensive forays into that style. Danzig III: How the Gods Kill marked a full-fledged entry into the realm of gothic romanticism, working to create moods rather than pounding heavy metal aggression. "Dirty Black Summer" and "How the Gods Kill" became staples on MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

Danzig next released a solo project, Black Aria, a quasi-operatic attempt at classical instrumentals depicting the fall of Satan from heaven. The band broke through into the mainstream in 1993, when a live video for "Mother," a song originally released on Danzig, became an inescapable smash on MTV and even charted as a single, nearly cracking the Billboard Top 40. Meanwhile, Danzig contributed a track entitled "Thirteen" to Johnny Cash's acclaimed 1994 effort American Recordings. The more experimental Danzig 4 was released in 1994 and entered the charts at number 29, but its quiet, moody, atmospheric subtlety didn't find as much favor with the band's new audience as the anthemic "Mother," while some longtime fans dismissed it as mellow and therefore commercial.

During the supporting tour, Chuck Biscuits left the band and was replaced by Joey Castillo. Following the tour, Danzig broke up the band and formed a new version featuring ex-Prong guitarist/vocalist Tommy Victor, drummer Castillo, and bassist Josh Lazie; this lineup released Blackacidevil on Halloween 1996. Blackacidevil was ignored by both the press and the public, falling out of the charts after a mere three weeks. 6:66 Satan's Child followed in 1999; Live on the Black Hand Side appeared two years later. In 2002 and 2004, Danzig released the stripped-down I Luciferi and Circle of Snakes, both returns to form that found the artist emulating the simplistic brutality of his 1988 debut. Black Aria II arrived in the fall of 2006. The band did a tour in 2008 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of their debut before releasing their ninth album, Deth Red Sabaoth, in 2010. Skeletons, a ten-track collection of newly recorded covers that included Danzig-blasted renditions of Aerosmith's "Lord of the Thighs," the Everly Brothers' "Crying in the Rain," and Dave Allan & the Arrows' theme from the 1967 biker film "Devils Angels," arrived in 2015.

Danzig Official Site

2015 Skeletons

Tracklist:

01. Devil's Angels (Davie Allan & the Arrows cover) 02:41
02. Satan (from "Satan's Sadists" ) 04:14
03. Let Yourself Go (Elvis Presley cover) 02:57
04. N.I.B. (Black Sabbath cover) 05:04
05. Lord Of The Thighs (Aerosmith cover) 04:05
06. Action Woman (The Litter cover) 03:42
07. Rough Boy (ZZ Top cover) 04:43
08. With A Girl Like You (The Troggs cover) 01:53
09. Find Somebody (The Rascals cover) 03:48
10. Crying In The Rain (The Everly Brothers cover) 02:44

Label:
Evilive

When it comes to the metal and hardcore punk scenes, Glenn Danzig is about as legendary as you can get. With his work in the horror punk outfit Misfits, Samhain, and the eponymous project Danzig, he has become a subcultural icon with a trademark voice and work ethic that won’t quit.

It’s admirable for a man so influential to release an album made up of songs that impacted him deeply. The songs that comprise Danzig’s 10th album form, as Danzig says, “the actual basis and skeleton of what I listened to growing up, ultimately informing the kind of music I like.” And Danzig’s way of taking the songs that formed the foundation of his music and making them his own kind of works.

Skeletons brings the listener along on a journey into Danzig’s musical history, covering a wide range of music that all coheres when filtered through his singular voice. The album begins with an homage to grindhouse biker films of the ’60s, as Danzig takes the theme songs from Devil’s Angels and Satan’s Sadists and makes them sound like songs he might have written himself. The former starts with pure punk energy, the likes of which likely still keeps Danzig kicking, and the latter is balladic, bluesy, and pleasantly faithful to the original. Skeletons then mostly settles into a mixture of ’60s rock and pop songs, from deeper cuts by artists like Black Sabbath and Aerosmith to surprises from outliers like Elvis Presley and The Everly Brothers.

The pop selection presented here mostly relishes the the psychedelia that defined the ’60s, and with Danzig’s reworking, the songs slide surprisingly well into the present. The Litter’s “Action Woman” and The Troggs’ “With a Girl Like You” lose their grooving bass and steady tempos in favor of heavier riffs in a loose and carefree style. The Young Rascals’ “Find Somebody” ends up being one of the genuine highlights of the record thanks to Danzig’s ability to take the energy and spirit of the song and cast it in his own torchlight without losing any of the fun.

The most damage is incurred, ironically, when classic heavy rock songs are squeezed through Danzig’s wringer. The natural magic of Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” is lost with Danzig’s inability to do Ozzy’s vocal work any justice, not to mention the obvious and unfortunate favoring of heavy riffs over Geezer Butler’s unique bass work. Skeletons’ canned production is tolerable up to this point, with the riffs and drums serving as background noise to Danzig’s trademark voice, but it only dilutes a track like “N.I.B.”.

Even more uninspired is the adaptation of Aerosmith’s “Lord of the Thighs”, in which a seductive and grooving mood is replaced with dull riffs and an obviously bored Danzig. More fun lies in Danzig’s Elvis impression on “Let Yourself Go” and his vocal enthusiasm on ZZ Top’s soulful ballad “Rough Boy”.

Skeletons’ production is monotonous, often favoring pick squeals over musical nuances, and always relying on Danzig’s voice to come through way over the top. Even so, it is a Danzig record, and Danzig realizes his strengths lie in having fun with the songs that he loves. Skeletons succeeds a little, too, in doing what it set out to do: baring a little bit of Danzig’s blackened soul. The final track, a cover of The Everly Brothers’ “Crying in the Rain”, loses the heavy riffs in favor of discordant keys that maintain the original’s downtrodden spirit. We see a little bit of the doom and gloom that has always preoccupied Danzig, and in sharing that, even in fleeting moments, Skeletons does what it set out to do.

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As requested by a fellow member xXSurgeXx from Holland!

Heavy

Heavy Metal / Doom Rock

Lossless

238.71 MB

20 files

07/12/2015

Seed(s): 2, Leecher(s): 0 = 2 Peer(s)

24/04/2026 23:13:53