You can call me ignorant if you like, but in 1988 I had no real concept of what Samhain or the Misfits were. Metallica had done a Misfits cover on 'Garage Days', and that was pretty cool, that much I knew, but that was it.
 
Samhain and Misfits I stay away from to this day, the former front man from those two bands, however, made a lasting impression on yours truly sometime during 1988.
 
The debut album, simply entitled 'Danzig', went straight into heavy rotation on my record player (yes, vinyl player and the cassette player was all there was at the time, my young friends!), thus competing with aforementioned Metallica, Maiden, Priest, Manowar, Anthrax, Testament, Helloween, Overkill and Slayer who more or less were the only ones to make it through my loudspeakers in those prestine and less complicated days.
 
This obviously wasn't thrash, not even heavy metal, but it was still heavy and fiercely dark. It was catchy in a bluesy, yet sinister way that I couldn't get around. The track Mother was a haunting tune of rebellion, Twist of Cain with its simple yet terrifyingly effective riff went straight for the throat - that album to this day is one of the most fantastic debut albums.
 
Danzig went on to create a lot of great songs on the next albums. He also did less fortunate things, not only musically. The man's ego exploded somewhere during the 90s and kept expanding endlessly, it would seem. He got smacked in the face, an event that was all the world wide web, just another step in the direction of Glenn Danzig reaching the status as a has-been.
 
Nevertheless, Danzig kept returning. The heights of the first three albums were never reached, but decent efforts have been issued over the past decade, helped by Tommy Victor from Prong and Johnny Kelly of Type O Negative. The latter two are also part of the crew on 'Deth Red Sabaoth' as is former Samhain bassist Steve Zing.
 
The difference between this new album and the last few Danzig discs is this: For the first time in over a decade I sit here and enjoy something that I feel in my bones is a real Danzig album.
 
The nerve has been struck in the exact right way. Glenn's voice purports the evil it should. The artificial harmonies are spot on and plentyful. The tempo is just right.
 
This rocks in the groovy and dark way I want Danzig to rock!
 
The Revengeful is an almost cheerful tune with a surprisingly light touch, but the rest, my friends, is a dark as the left hand path.
 
This is the second coming of Danzig.