Danzig 777: I Luciferi
By
Mick Stingley,
Contributor
Monday, July 8, 2002 @ 12:26 AM
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The Jack LaLane of hard rock returns to his Earthly demonic form with a tight collection of 13 new aggressive blasts and blues forged in the smoldering darkness of Hell and Hollywood.
This music herein feels old and sounds new, and pleasantly, for Danzig fans old and young, bridges the gap between the straight-on heavy blues rock of Danzig 1-4 and the semi-commercial industrial buzz of Danzig 5 and 6. 7 opens with the eerie instrumental “Unendlich,” and beckons the listener with strange whispers set over Gregorian chant. It moves into “Black Mass” which creeps in with descending guitar notes and gets your head ta-bangin’ as the drums kick in. This is the Danzig you love. “My infernal service is at hand/Hell will come…” And so it does.
“Wicked Pussycat” rocks away with its squealing guitars steeped in crunch. It is a cool and groovy and even silly song (“6-foot pussycat/Like the way you swing your tail”), and may be the perfect number for Tom Jones to cover on his next album. You don’t have to be an A&R scumbag to know that this is “the hit.” They’re already playing it quite a bit in my favorite strip club…
“God Of Light,” “Liberskull” and “Dead Inside” get back to the evil, and work toward the feeling of Danzig 3 and Danzig 4. But the Misfits-sounding choruses and early Adam and the Ants’ style chug-a-chug guitar and drumming of “Kiss The Skull” is a singular, unexpected treat that ought to be a neck-bruiser at the live shows. By the time you get to this track, you’re completely hooked. “C’mon and kiss the skull!” Cool.
The title, “I Luciferi,” comes in with an odd guitar-intro, then slithers into another
Evil “rocker,” reminiscent of “Five Finger Crawl.” “Naked Witch” is a bit faster, and slows up on the chorus, but doesn’t amaze as much as other things here.
Track 10 is “Angel Blake.” This is Glenn Danzig at his finest: slow, heavy and richly textured with his sotto-voce tenor. Lyrically, Danzig is the Wallace Stevens of Evil.
“Angel Blake” is a haunting tale; and simply a beautiful song. Here is the perfect example of a man getting better with age. He certainly has come such a long way from, “I turned into a Martian…”
“The Coldest Sun,” “Halo Goddess Bone” and “Without Light, I Am” finish the album with the theme of Lucifer in the Sabbath-y vein of the first “Danzig” disc.
New guitarist Todd Youth earns his Satanic Merit Badge as a Danzig axe-slinger, and hopefully, he will be on board for a while. And with Howie Pyro and Joey C. returning as the rhythm section, Glenn Danzig may have found himself the perfect band to take him and his followers surging onward through Hell.
Danzig 777: I Luciferi is going to be one of those great discs that you keep in your car and break for that road trip with your friends to see one of your favorite bands live. “Hey, let’s put this on…this one rocks!”
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