Danzig – Skeletons – Album Review

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Glenn Danzig is a man that needs little to no introduction. Starting his career in the mid 70’s with influential horror-punk-brats the Misfits before forming Samhain which morphed into the band he found most success with – the eponymously titled Danzig – his legacy speaks for itself. Four great albums of doomy, blues inspired hard rock solidified his reputation before an ill advised dalliance with industrial music promptly alienated the majority of his fan base. Fortunately, he has recently returned to the sound that made his name and this covers album should – in theory – give a glimpse in to what inspires a man renowned for his privacy.

Skeletons starts promisingly enough with “Devils Angels” and “Satans Sadists”, both from 60’s biker flicks, proving to be catchy little slices of rock; nothing more, nothing less. While “Let Yourself Go”, an Elvis cover, is another ok effort but nowhere near the quality of “Trouble” from Thrall: Demonsweatlive. While the first handful of tracks are catchy enough, they are nothing overly special and as the album progesses the quality dips dramatically. The less said about the absolutely diabolical version of “NIB” the better and sadly, in the end, you’re left begging for the album to finish.

The problems with this album are numerous. Danzig’s backing band is perfunctory at best and the sound quality is murky but the biggest problem lies with Danzig himself. In his prime he had a bluesy animalistic holler that was amongst the most powerful in rock, whereas at times – on this album – he sounds like a cat receiving a hefty kick to the knackers! The man is undoubtably a legend, however, do yourself a favour and stick to the first four Danzig albums and avoid this turgid nonsense. Your sanity will thank you for it. 2/10