Danzig – Skeletons

As a long time fan of The Misfits’ early output, it was exciting to see Glenn Danzig don the face paint after decades of denouncing the importance of the band that gave his musical career its first big push. That being said, it was difficult to remain optimistic about the long awaited new album, as the quality of his output has arguably been decreasing steadily since the early 90s. The fact that Jerry Only released a horrendous covers album under The Misfits name only made the wait more nerve wracking. It only takes a few seconds into the opening track to realize that this isn’t an Only level mess.

The album opens with an obscure cover of “Devil’s Angels,” which is the closest thing to The Misfits that Danzig has recorded in decades. This is such a strong way to begin the album, with plenty of garage punk energy. The raw production on the album is a welcome return to the ragged edginess of early Danzig and serves the covers of songs from the 1960s to 1980s well. While he is generally known as a metal artist these days, many of the strongest songs in the Danzig discography are ballads, which allow his deep voice room to take the spotlight. There are a couple of great examples of that on Skeletons, the most obvious being “Rough Boy” which is a pleasant love song which highlights his fascination with the melodies of 1960s rock music. The punk influence is again obvious on “With A Girl Like You,” which sounds like a long lost Ramones recording. The sound leans more toward straightforward late 90s metal on “Find Somebody,” although there is a lot of melody at the course, which throws things off a little. 

Not every song deserved to make the cut. This could have been a very strong EP release, as there is noticeable filler that could have been cut. Glenn Danzig has a strong bluesy voice that has served him well standing out in the metal scene, but on a song like “Satan,” his caterwaul feels overdone and makes the song drag on much too long. The choice to cover Black Sabbath’s “N.I.B.” seems overly obvious and the vocal performance is uninspired. While his vocals often make ballads the strongest tracks on his albums, the production on “Crying in the Rain” sounds like he was singing into a tin can, which distracts from the song itself. 

The distance between the highs and lows on the album make for a lack of cohesiveness to the album. Some of the songs will appease fans of recent Danzig releases, while others have a more ragged, retro sound. As mentioned before, Glenn Danzig has a powerful voice which has long been his strongest gift, making up for oft corny lyrics. The song choices are interesting, with “N.I.B.” been the only predictable choice, instead choosing songs that will be obscure to most listeners. This works in his favour, as there is less comparison to the original, allowing him to put his own spin on the music and make it sound more like a proper Danzig release than a throwaway covers album. While Skeletons is definitely not one of the most essential releases from the artist’s extensive catalogue, it is an interesting listen and definitely one of his strongest in decades.