UMUR Deth Red Sabaoth is the 9th full-length studio album by US hard rock/ metal act Danzig. The album was released in June 2010 by AFM Records. I read an interview a couple of years ago with lead vocalist Glenn Danzig where he considered a retirement from the music business ( first and foremost because of the pressures and strains of touring). So the release of Deth Red Sabaoth comes as a bit of a surprise. In addition to Glenn Danzig on vocals, bass, guitar, piano and drums (on Black Candy) the lineup on the album feature former Type O Negative drummer Johnny Kelly and former Prong frontman Tommy Victor on guitars.

The music on the album is dark hard rock/ metal with nods toward heavy blues. The experiments with industrial music on the last 4 albums is also present here but those elements are not dominant. Instead it´s like Danzig have returned a bit more to the sound from their 4th album. The voice of the charismatic frontman is much better than what we´ve been used to for a long time. There´s warmth and passion in his vocal delivery that sadly has been missing for a long time ( 4 albums to be exact). His Jim Morrisson/ Ian Astbury type vocal delivery is again ( just like on the early albums) greatly enjoyable and well produced. The production on the instruments still have touches of the cold metallic/ industrial feel from previous albums, but the sound is overall warmer.

The songs are generally much better composed, with more hooks and dark feel, than heard for long. Deth Red Sabaoth is not the most consistent album though and some songs are a bit too standard and we´re not completely spared from the repetitive sections, that have mared some of the previous albums either. Songs like the three opening tracks Hammer of the Gods, The Revengeful and Rebel Spirits, the semi-ballad On A Wiched Night and the heavy, dark and bluesy Ju Ju Bone are pretty great tracks though. While I still think there´s a long way from Deth Red Sabaoth to the best releases by Danzig, I consider Deth Red Sabaoth as a slight return to form and it´s definitely worth a listen for those fans who ( like me) jumped ship after listening to Danzig 5: Blackacidevil (1996).