Movies And Metal

Posts Tagged ‘Gothic’

Ever since the classic Danzig line-up disbanded in 1994, it could be argued that the bands output has been, at best, patchy.  1996’s Danzig 5: Blackacidevil was a pretty terrible cacophony of industrial bleeps and forgettable songs, whilst 1999’s Danzig 6:66 – Satan’s Child had a few glimmers of hope, but ultimately failed due to a lack of a proper guitar player (frontman Glenn Danzig himself handled most of the guitar duties) and a severe lack of the atmospherics of old.  Danzig 777: I Luciferi and Circle of Snakes followed and nodded towards a more traditional Danzig sound, but it all seemed to be too little too late.

And now we get Deth Red Saaoth.  Along with the Evil Elvis, the band now feature former Prong guitarist Tommy Victor, Glenn’s former Samhaim bandmate Steve Zing on bass and ex-Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly, so the band’s pedigree is without question.  And it doesn’t take very long for opening track Hammer of the Gods to put you back in those early 90’s glory days, with Glenn’s clean, bluesy vocals underpinning one of the most stomping cuts that Danzig (the band) have done for some time (it could also be said that the heavier end of Rob Zombie’s output would be a good reference point, but let’s remember who was doing this first).  Second track The Revengeful does lean towards the band’s latter output with its pinched riffing and clunking pace, although it’s still better than anything from the previous few albums.  It’s also on this track where the album’s most obvious flaw starts to reveal itself, and that is the uneven production job, courtesy of Mr. Danzig himself.  There just seems to be very little oomph in some of the songs when you expect there to be some, and Danzig albums with little in the way of dynamics have become a bit too commonplace in recent years.

Anyway, regardless of sound issues, there are a few faith-restoring gems to be had here; lead single On a Wicked Night oozes an erotic swagger that has been sorely missing for a long time, and sounds a little like classic The Cult before Glenn’s powerful pipes crank the song up a gear, whilst Pyre of Souls: Incanticle sounds like it’s straight from a movie score, with the main man harmonising over a strummed acoustic passage before the song’s part two – Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain – kicks in with it’s epic, brooding verse and wicked guitar solos.

Overall, Deth Red Sabaoth can be called a huge step in the right direction rather than the complete return to form that many were expecting.  Much like Ozzy Osbourne’s recent Scream album, it starts off well and ends solidly but somewhere in the middle there’s a bit of a lull where some of the songs start to sound like filler material, or could even be labelled self-parody.  Considering the combined talents of all the band members there is a sense that they seem a bit underused here, but hopefully that will remedy itself if the line-up can stick together for a while and then maybe, just maybe, Danzig will become a cohesive unit that can make consistently great albums again.  On this showing, they’re on their way but not quite there yet.

Rating: 6/10

Standout Tracks: Hammer of the Gods, Rebel Spirits, Black Candy, On a Wicked Night, Pyre of Souls: Incanticle, Pyre of Souls: Seasons of Pain.

For Fans of: Rob Zombie, Ozzy Osbourne, The Misfits, The Resurrection Sorrow, Heaven & Hell, Type O Negative, Paradise Lost, Volbeat, Black Sabbath.

For more information on Danzig go to: www.danzig-verotik.com

Click on images to purchase Deth Red Sabaoth.

Having streamlined their death/doom tendencies around the time of third album ‘Discouraged Ones’ back in 1998, Sweden’s Katatonia have spent the last decade furrowing the same progressive path as fellow countrymen Opeth, albeit in a more accessible way, and ‘Night is the New Day’ – their eighth proper studio album – is the sound of a band at the top of their game.

Backing up their trademark gloomy melodies with some quite atmospheric and trippy programmed rhythms, as well as the necessary heavy guitar parts, Katatonia have produced an album full of mini epics that invite you to join the band within their misery, yet such is the majestic quality of their sound pallette, it seems futile to resist.  Singer Jonas Renkse’s melodic croon compliments the delicately picked guitar parts so that when the heaviness of the choruses kicks in the contrast in moods is quite spectacular.

With each song flowing neatly into the next it makes picking standout tracks a bit of a task, although the gorgeous melodies of ‘Liberation’ and sweeping time changes of opener ‘Forsaker’ do stick out somewhat.   The continuous flow effect also makes each track fairly similar to the last in structure, which would normally be a criticism but when the quality of the material is this high, such flaws tend to be minor.

Overall, this is an album that sees Katatonia pushing at the boundaries that they helped to define during the last decade.  There is an air of the band knowing that this could be their definitive statement, and in a just world this would see them joining enjoying the same sorts of commercial successes as Opeth.

Rating: 9/10

Standout Tracks:  Forsaker, Liberation, Idle Blood, Inheritance, Day and Then the Shade.

For Fans of:  Opeth, Paradise Lost, My Dying Bride, Anathema, Mastodon.

Click on album cover to purchase.

For more information on Katatonia visit: www.katatonia.com