Danzig - Danzig II: Lucifuge CD

Glenn Danzig prior to his namesake band, was known as the front man for punk legends, Misfits, and his following band, Samhain. Danzig was a dramatic shift in sound from pass efforts, but it worked excellent. The original lineup for Danzig released four albums together and out of the four, Lucifuge stands out by far. After seeing Glenn shift from punk to a hard rock/heavy metal sound, it was obvious he was never a one trick pony. This album goes lengths to prove that fact even more so.

Danzig keeps to the traditional rock and metal sounds with songs like “Long Way Back from Hell,” “Snakes of Christ,” and “Tired of Being Alive.” Though these tracks are generally simple, simple is what Danzig does best. Complexity is nice in some instances, but sometimes the basics can still produce excellent results. They explore a more bluesy route with tracks like “Killer Wolf,” “777,” and especially “I’m The One.” “I’m The One” stands out the most as it keeps with the most traditional of blues sounds, only sporting an acoustic guitar, minimal drum beat, and Glenn’s fantastic vocals.

I would consider John Christ as one of my favorite guitarist. I really think he shines on tracks like “Tired of Being Alive” and “777.” I really enjoy the twang and bounce on the guitar riff at the start and progression of the chorus in “777.” The riff seems unique in terms of it seems that only John could play it the exact right way and that not even the best of guitarist could mimic it. Chuck Biscuits’s drumming on tracks like “Her Black Wings” and “Devil’s Plaything.” He keeps a nice pace – speeding and slowing his drumming in excellent style. Eerie Von doesn’t really shine that much on this album to me. He is an excellent bassist, but nothing he does really stands out except for the track “Girl,” which ironically is his least favorite track from his time in the band.

Glenn himself is at his prime during this the time of this album. That dark Elvis and Jim Morrison charm bellowing through the track list. I really enjoy him on some of the slower tracks like “Blood and Tears.” Ballads can be very hit or miss for me, but he pulls this one off very well, especially in his powerful vocals on the chorus. He definitely brings energy to as well on tracks like “Long Way Back from Hell” and “Devil’s Plaything.” “Killer Wolf” is probably his weakest perform, though not at all a bad song. He tries to a bit too hard to emulate southern bluesy accent, though I really enjoy near the end when he sings “I am your killer wolf.”

“Girl” and “Pain in the World” are arguably the weakest tracks on the album. “Girl” is on that line of simplicity that it feels like it was made just to be simple filler. It feels like a really hit or miss for people who have listened to it. “Pain in the World” is my least favorite track. I enjoy a slower, heavier sound, but this as an ending track felt pretty out of place to me. I generally like the final track to either go out on a really heavy note or a really soft note, this seems to go middle of the row. It does seem to hit the more darkest of themes of the album, but it still feels like it improper fit on the album as a whole.

Overall, Lucifuge is a fantastic album. Though I feel conflicted about the last two tracks, I can still listen to this album from front to back with little complaint. It’s enjoyable to hear a collection of different sounds that fit so well to create a very strong album. I feel like the band members were very well rounded and brought out all their strengths for this album as best as they could. I feel that Danzig should’ve been much larger in the generally music scene, as well the rock/metal one, but got outshined by more mediocre acts. All and all being said, Lucifuge is the best album from Danzig, and worth every minute to listen to.