Danzig To Release Album Of All New Material In May

Danzig will release an album of all new material around mid May according to his official website. It has been 7 years since Danzig released an original album with his well-received Deth Red Sabaoth. The official Danzig website said that the name of the upcoming album will be announced shortly.

Last summer, Glenn Danzig released, Skeletons, a collection of cover tunes. That record featured songs by a multitude of various artists, including Elvis Presley, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, ZZ Top, and the Everly Brothers.

Before the release of Skeletons, Danzig released The Lost Tracks of Danzig in 2007. Consisting primarily of original material, The Lost Tracks of Danzig featured songs that were written and in some cases recorded for former Danzig albums, but weren’t used for a variety of reasons.

It might be difficult to believe, but Danzig has been playing music professionally for going on 40 years. His original band, the now-legendary The Misfits, formed in 1977. Though the horror-punk outfit was only around until 1983, Danzig’s first band has inspired legions of wayward “misfit” teens through the decades. The brash – yet fun – music fused with archetypal horror themes cobbled together from B movies and comics, appeals to a wide swath of kids and adults alike to this very day.

As groundbreaking as The Misfits were, however, in 1983, Danzig had had enough of his band mates’ lack of professionalism according to an interview with Metal Hammer.

“It was difficult for me to work with these guys, because they weren’t prepared to put in the hours practicing. I wanted move things forward, and they didn’t seem to have the same outlook. So it was time for me to move on.”

Enter Danzig’s second band, Samhain. Instead of the frenetic pace of The Misfits, Danzig slowed down Samhain, adding more of an ominous tone to the music, synonymous with the early work of Black Sabbath. Though the horror elements were still there in full force, Danzig approached Samhain from a much more heavy metal standpoint than a punk one.

The modern day version of Danzig came about when legendary producer Rick Rubin went to a Samhain show in 1986. Rubin approached Danzig, telling him that he wanted to sign the singer to his record label, Def American Records. However, Rick didn’t want all of Samhain, he just wanted Danzig. Refusing, Danzig said he’d only sign on with Def American if he could bring his Samhain bassist, Eerie Von, along. Rubin relented.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWgbxLpDtAw

Danzig’s (the band) original lineup included Glenn Danzig on vocals, Eerie Von on bass, John Christ on Guitar and Chuck Biscuits on drums. When the first, self-titled Danzig album was released in 1988, it knocked the rock world on its head. With solid hard rock tracks like “Twist of Cain,” “Am I Demon,” and “Mother,” in the same midst as more soulful songs like “She Rides,” and “Soul on Fire,” an entirely new sound was unleashed in the hard rock spectrum. What’s more is that Rubin finally showcased Danzig’s vocals on an album, something that had been sorely lacking in the songs of both The Misfits and Samhain.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKXBxWuXIew

The debut Danzig album was followed-up by Danzig II: Lucifuge, in 1990. Lucifuge retained much of the groove and heaviness that was evident the first Danzig album. After Lucifuge, Rick Rubin’s involvement in the band had diminished, and on Danzig’s third release, How the Gods Kill, in 1992, Danzig took assistant producer credit. How the Gods Kill was the first Danzig album to creep into the top 30 on the Billboard 200 chart, climbing up to number 24.

Danzig, the band, started to change after How the Gods Kill. Thrall: Demonsweatlive, a live EP was released in 1993 and Danzig 4 was released in 1994, to a lukewarm reception. After disagreeing with Rubin over royalties, Danzig left the Def American label. The band itself started to fall apart after that. Biscuits left, followed shortly thereafter by Von and Christ.

Danzig, the namesake of his own band, continued on. The influences on his next few albums seemed to be more Trent Reznor than horror metal-based, and while some derided Danzig for this, others applauded him for attempting to stay relevant. However, when Deth Red Sabaoth was released in 2007, old school Danzig fans saw it as a return to form.

As such, there’s great hope and anticipation bottled up in the upcoming collection of new music coming from Danzig in mid-May.

[Feature Image by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]