Warthur I guess everyone who follows Glenn Danzig's career eventually reaches a point where his "undead Jim Morrison impersonating Elvis in a leather vest" routine stops being fun and starts being samey. Some never took to it even in the hardcore punk glory days of the Misfits; some were put off by the terror-stricken deathrock of Samhain; some simply didn't dig the "Danzig croons over what is basically well-produced but otherwise rather rudimentary bluesy hard rock" formula of the first Danzig album.

For my part, I like all those phases of Danzig's career, but I find that a little goes a long way. I really liked Static Age, but never felt like any of the Misfits' other releases seemed particularly necessary next to it; likewise, I dug Samhain, but on balance I think it's probably best that project was as short-lived as it was. And whilst I liked the first Danzig album, I find myself feeling that one album in that particular vein is quite enough. This release basically offers more of the same as the debut, except "Mother" isn't here, and without "Mother" what's the point?

TerryDactyl Love. This album is love. There is nothing that is more love than this album. All those hippies who sit around pretending John Lennon knew more than anyone else, that Janis Joplin was the true flower of the world, that Jimi (who really is a truly great guitarist on the highest level, and a hell of a song writer to boot) was somehow more about love than this thing, this brutal, ugly, gorgeous, perfect pop masterpiece of an album.

There's a lot of good to be had here. From the very first notes of "Long Way Back From Hell" to the very final fading guitar note of "Pain in the World" this is an album that really is nearly (not quite, but oh, so close) fifty minutes of sheer satanic bliss, black as coal, and heavy as a meteor.

Personal Anecdote That Has Nothing to do with How Good This Album Is:

First time I heard this was in 1990 sometime, maybe very very early '91 and I'd never heard a note of Glenn song, and I borrowed this cassette from my buddy Matt and put it in the tape deck of my boom box and pressed play. It stopped because it was actually at the beginning of Side 2. I turned it over because I didn't feel like rewinding and the very first thing I heard, the very first moment of Glenn-song was the acoustic intro to "Devil's Plaything." I listened, rapt. Intent. I knew that the universe now made more sense and that I would have to spend my life holding this song, this sound, up as a flag, a gorgeous multi colored black flag that would lead me all around the world, all across the badlands of musical populi and would eventually discover all sorts of things because of those notes. And by the time Glenn sang "Woah woah uh whoa woah" I was in love, in rapture, I'm sure I had an erection but didn't know why, and from that day forth I put away childish things like Death Metal and Grindcore and started exploring the whole of the universe. Of course Death Metal and Grindcore still totally got my goat, but that's another story. Glenn, well, he's like Elvis and Sinatra and Morrison. He's like the other side of every brutal moment. I love this stuff. I can't get enough, no matter how smart, ascended and filled with divine fire I get, there's still "Lucifuge" reminding me that I ain't shit. And yet, because I am here, Maybe I am. Goodness, gracious, land sakes alive, I need to hear "Snakes of Christ" and succumb to the bloat of underworld goat. Hallelujah, save my soul, this is some serious rock n roll.