DANZIG – DETH RED SABAOTH (2010)

DANZIG “DETH RED SABAOTH” – A DARK & HEAVY RETURN THAT TRIUMPHS! Never count out Glenn Danzig. A living Metal Legend like he, never surrenders and will never lay off his drive to make the music that evokes haunting themes and dark places. “Deth Red Sabaoth” was released on June 21, 2010, on Evillive/The End Records. This ninth studio album from DANZIG is nothing short of brilliant, surpassing my expectations of what “Deth Red Sabaoth” would sound like. A valiant return of sort, with the last DANZIG album being “Circle Of Snakes” from 2004. This new DANZIG album of eleven songs shall take you by the hand… and guide you down a path of Heavy Metal grooves, that coincide with all the nightmarish nuances and feel of a vintage Vincent Price, black & white horror flick.

Yes, all the talk is “Deth Red Sabaoth” is a throwback to the first four DANZIG albums and I would be foolish to disagree. If Glenn Danzig felt his best music style needed to be saluted, he surely puts on one hell of a salute here. Cutting to the Metal chase… “Ju Ju Bone” is my favorite song from this album. Then again, come tomorrow, it very well might be “Rebel Spirits”, these songs are just so uncannily contagious to my Metal mind. Where “Ju Ju Bone” carries you along through a foggy nights Metal fantasy, “Rebel Spirits” comes straight at you with the aggression meter turned up a few notches higher, both in the Metal and vocals of Glenn.

“Black Candy” with its molasses tempo has its dark side magnified through the doom fueled riffs and beats, instigated by Glenn’s ever macabre filled, vocal angst. Glenn plays drums on “Black Candy” and he hits the skins just like he sings… very deliberate and very chilling. “On A Wicked Night” has some Classic Rock vibe happening, with the guitar play of Tommy Victor resonating some real late ’70’s Hard Rock excitement. Maybe it’s just me… still “On A Wicked Night” sounds and feels so damn good. “Deth Red Moon” can best be described as THE song on this DANZIG album that will sound more incredible with each listen. I might just pick this to be my favorite song on “Deth Red Sabaoth” for Fridays only. Tommy Victor lets it all air out with some unreal good leads on this brazenly strong Heavy Metal song.

“Night Star Hel” makes for the finest candidate song to crank up in your car, as you drive through a long forgotten cemetery at night. During a damn full moon too. It’s the classic, no, epic sound of “Night Star Hel” combined with some of the most spine chilling riffs and rhythmic beats that I have heard in years. This song should have ended with Glenn Danzig saying… “are you scared yet”? Instead the climactic highway you hear and ride on “Night Star Hel” is the one and only Johnny Kelly on drums, taking control of this song’s beat and raising holy hell with it.

Ending “Deth Red Sabaoth” is Glenn’s eerily similar to Jim Morrison vocals on “Left Hand Rise Above”. I always and forever will consider Glenn Danzig a unique and formidable vocalist, although the comparison to Jim Morrison is by all means a most sincere and non-confronting statement… in other words, a compliment. What DANZIG can do with turned down tempos is frighteningly amazing to me. The total impact that this band creates with doom and dark tones with chant like beats, is a jaw dropping listen into how Metal Music is truly an atmospheric experience, when done so unpretentiously as “Deth Red Sabaoth”.

Rating: Out of 10