I’ve contacted my state representative, have you?

http://www.stopthewall.us/?gclid=CJHwjbPo2K0CFZEj7AodBxgHfA

If you don’t go see these guys, you’ll be sorry. If you do go, you’ll be sore!

A harrowing harbinger of a heated host
Released from the ship as merely a ghost
Forget the life – ingrained – once known
You’re mine now – return back below

The lights of the sky review your predicament
The massive lights amass massive mental debt
A fortified fortress with fifty superior men
Get back in line, or we’ll bring you an end

The sea-settlement sinks, and rises with tides
Restrained by the fog, in which it hides
Forget the freedom and peace you have had
This wild ocean breeze will drive you mad

The servers of this ship may come and go
But the crew remains a single man in tow
Awash in the waves for quite some time
A man who is a slave to his own mind

Parallel to life, shall never exist

A mislead soul with a preference for dark corners

Commits an act that normally breeds mourners

A deadly act, lives are torn apart

Peculiar this time, the shadow itself shall depart

From one -cide of life, to another -cide.

Once you discover restricted life in a jar

So many things once seen from afar

Slowly drift away  from civilization

Some people dance, some people rejoice

Why should anyone care to have a choice?

I’ll love freedom when I finally hear my voice

Slowly making way for civilization

Restricting laws of restricting authority

I’d be afraid if I could contain my pity

Slaves of slavers controlling the city

Slowly they prey on civilization

If you ever find your voice in the crowd

Make sure you project it extremely loud

Make sure it reaches the heights of a cloud

Slowly you save our civilization

He need not light, warmth, compassion, or love

How can such a being thrive and live among us?

Suffocating daylight with divine powers from above?

There must be more than meets the eye with this guy

Surely he’s familiar with the emotions humans use

He exhibits nothing except his delightful desire to die

He’ll consider anything less just another way to lose

His skin has the same texture and feeling as yours

As would be expected, sweat leaks from his pores

What makes this person so different from common whores?

He has acquired a cold demeanor, and nothing more

His spirit is beyond broken, and has been forever

He’ll loathe human life, as long as there is an ever

What makes this being so different from humanity?

The subhuman desires nothing but death and calamity

A deafening deterrent to a mood once exquisite

Without warning, mind aflame

Is it time for the chase to return again?

Perhaps my acquaintance and I can coexist

Perhaps if I were more than a name on a list

As the truth trembles through the space of sound

The foreboding tremors tumble me towards the ground

A familiar foe I’ve felt before

Has now returned to settle the score

Here are some pictures I took at the event.

CC setlist that their manager handed me after the show

The most common perception of Danzig is that only the first 4 albums are great. Okay, sure. I would almost go as far as including Circle of Snakes on the fantastic side of the discography. It was truly a different style, but it almost managed to capture a bit of the old charm.

Enter Deth Red Sabaoth.

This album sounds like it should be Danzig 5. It actually manages to have a lot of the charm of the first 4 albums! Hammer of the Gods starts off the in classic Godless or Long Way Back From Hell style. It’s one of those fast-paced songs for the most part, until about halfway through, then THUD. A huge fucking doom break like you’ve never heard from this band. I think the part that really sells this as one of the greatest Danzig songs is the chorus. You can hear that he has put a lot of effort into every chorus, as far as performance goes (lyrics are a completely different bag of bones, however…) The closer Left Hand Rise Above sounds like a nod to the cold and bleak stylings of Pain in the World, or Let it Be Captured. While his vocals on CoS sounded strained and a bit rough, here they’re nearly as striking as the early albums. The album overall is easily Glenn’s finest vocal performance since 4p.

What are the big problems with this album though? One glaring omission is the presence of bass. Where the fuck did Glenn put it? He certainly didn’t put it in the mix. The drums are simply standard. They don’t have the creative fills of Biscuits long past, but at times Kelly throws in some interesting double bass. It’s a bit of an odd mixture with the bluesy overlapping of riffs.  The riffs themselves have a fantastic Danzig-of-old tone, with obviously more modern recording techniques. It’s still nowhere near as rough as the guitar tone on CoS. Unfortunately, the guitars are just too bland. Some of Tommy Victor’s riffs demand praise in that they capture the past, yet there are probably only 2-3 riffs per song. The Revengful and Black Candy both have these ugly simple riffs with a pinch harmonic thrown in. Unfortunately, these really aren’t used in the same style John Christ would have. It’s like they’re just there because he did it. A few of his solos (and most of his leads) really attempt to channel the power of Christ, while others are just mindless shredding for the sake of shredding. Every damn song follows the same formula as the stunning opener. There are 6 songs on here within 20 seconds (give or take) of the 4 minute mark, and nearly all of these songs have the same structure: cool intro riff, verse, chorus, verse, chorus,  one of 7 different solos on the album, chorus, chorus… then some mix it up at the end with a solo/chorus. I suppose I’m using the phrase “mix it up” pretty loosely here though…

The part about this album that sucks the most is the lyrics though. Almost every chorus, no matter how good they are sung, still sucks because each chorus is usually just Glenn crooning each song title. Ju Ju Bone, one of these tracks, has a rather silly title anyways. When you add Glenn singing the big dumb “Ju Ju Bone” chorus, the overall taste is inadvertently humorous.  Unfortunately, none are done as well as Twist of Cain or any other early tracks that do this. The Pyre of Souls duo songs are simply overblown messes. The first song doesn’t really need to be there, as it’s just fairly useless riff with Glenn moaning for 3 minutes. You’re rewarded with no song progression at all. The vocals start to stack up in layers at the end, but it’s overall a waste of time. Seasons of Pain has some of the better solos on the album, but the song shouldn’t even be half as long as it is. Too much repetition and too few ideas plague this dreadful 10 minute anti-epic.

This album really does have the spirit and style of the early albums with the classic lineup in mind, but there just aren’t enough ideas to solidify it as a good album. If you love the classic sound, you’ll definitely find something to enjoy about this though. After all, it is never really bad anywhere. Just a bit dull. There are a few decent songs, along with new top 10 Danzig song Hammer of the Gods.

Highlights: Hammer of the Gods, Deth Red Moon, Left Hand Rise Above

Do these towns know how to rock? This live album was put together different from Saxon live albums of the past, from what the liner notes say. They started recording it at the world-famous Wacken festival in 2004, and didn’t stop until 2 tours later. With the previous Eagle Has Landed albums, you got one live concert album each. Here, Saxon explains you’re getting a live tour album instead. They wanted to create a live album of songs that haven’t appeared on any of the other live albums. This includes material released after those live albums, and material that just didn’t make their respective cuts at the time. What sets this live album apart is that this is for the hardcore Saxon fan. You don’t get the Denim and Leathers, or the Heavy Metal Thunders, or the Princess of the Nights or the 747s. You get the underrated, unheralded deep cuts from one of metal’s most legendary bands that you normally don’t hear them play often. Included are a few tracks from the very under appreciated Power and the Glory album (Redline, Warrior, This Town Rocks). They even play several tracks from their debut album, which I don’t believe they have hardly ever played (correct me if I’m wrong).

First and foremost, this album probably has my favorite presentation of all time. You get a wonderfully simple gatefold digi-pack (I’ve never understood the disdain digi-packs seem to get) with one CD on each side, and a fantastic picture booklet in the center sleeve that contains a whopping 95 live pictures of the guys doing what the guys do best. Playing metal live!

So how the hell are the performances? It’s Saxon, people! They’re better live than they are in the studio. Even 27 years after their first album they still manage to get everything perfect. Biff’s voice is in top shape, as always. If you’re a die-hard Saxon fan, you know what you’re getting with Biff. The same goes for Paul Quinn as well. Each note flows one after another in the exact fashion that the studio albums portrayed. The drumming was done by 3 separate guys on here (I can’t imagine having 3 different drummers in 2 years), but all of the performances are consistent with each other. Saxon’s obviously not going to hire some hack to fill such legendary shoes. While the songs from certain early albums do sound a bit more mild (Suzie Hold On) and restrained (Frozen Rainbow) than the rest of the pack, the raw live atmosphere breathes energetic life into each track.

The first disc is composed of all the lesser known classic 80s material the band, and the second focuses on everything from 1991 0nwards. Really, only a band like Saxon can pull off a double live album. The majority of bands don’t have nearly enough classic (or even good, honestly) material to take up two and a half hours. Saxon’s so fucking classic, they can fill up a two and a half hour running time, and still not even hit their most well-known classics! If only the collective NWOBHM movement had remained as strong as Saxon throughout the years…

If you’ve already got the first two Eagle Has Landed albums, you better get this one too! If you don’t have those, get those first. Like I mentioned earlier, this album is strictly for all the die-hard Saxon fans in the world. If you’re not in love with Saxon yet, you’d be better off going for the first two Eagle Has Landed albums. They’ll give you a picture of what Saxon is about, and what Saxon has accomplished. This is just the album that helps the mega fans get more of what they crave!

Oh and yeah, these towns know how to fuckin’ rock!