Danzig
Location
Lodi, New Jersey
Website
Bio
Glenn Danzig is a name that permeates, infects, and ultimately makes strong, the very soul of hard rock in the '90s. Through the legendary punk charge of his pre-Danzig outfits Misfits and Samhain, Danzig formed the backbone of today's mosh movement. Into the deep waves of the Danzig catalogue, and you've got a band that has created high-tension hybrids that are still being pondered and quietly adopted throughout today's metal community. Over eight million records sold, and Danzig is about to unleash a multi-media onslaught that will once again find disciples studying the master.
But first a little history.Danzig's early works took full advantage of what was initially a vital and productive working relationship ith Rick Rubin, resulting in a self-titled 1988 debut and a follow-up in '90 called Lucifuge that together enveloped the man's interest in punk,doom,gothic new wave and an intense California twist on black Satanic metal,culminating in a display of shockingly dark hard rock that sent chills the likes of which today's Norwegian churchburners could never know.
Danzig III: How The Gods Kill dropped in'92, rewriting the books on Sabbatherian doom metal; super charging the genre with molten guitar god riffs, foreboding but poetic lyrics,and above the fray, THAT VOICE. Glenn is a sonorious tenor blessed with the abilityto caress and terrorize all within a few short breaths.As the luck of the draw would have it, Danzig next found himself with an odd, unplanned Hit on his hands; a live version of the debut album's 'Mother' introducing the mainstream to this buffed-up, 'black leather powerhouse'. 1993's Thralldemonsweatlive EP went on to platinum status (following a similarly exalted fate for the debut),and Danzig's commercial legacy was ensured.
Never one to be complacent,Glenn rewired the band's sound into a frosty but intimate affair paradoxically rife with studio wizardry.Danzig 4P hit in '94,Glenn once more confounding the world with a record that would be a critically acclaimed masterpiece,casual but crafted,sinewy and insidious.
As relations with Danzig's label Def American broke down, so did Danzig's relationship with his band.Glenn found himself seeking fresh personnel and a fresh perspective, creating the darkwave industrial rhythms of Danzig 5: Blackacidevil, a record which, once again, was to re-engineer the cutting edge of hard rock in Danzig's imposing,muscle-strapped image.
The next couple years saw Danzig tied up in a legal battle with Rick Rubin over the rights to the unreleased material the band produced under American Recordings. After winning back the rights, Danzig entered the studio to record the sixth full-length album. In November 1999, Danzig 6:66 Satan's Child was released, with mixed reactions from fans and critics. It featured dark and heavy hard rock accented by mild electronics, with Danzig singing in an uncharacteristic, harsh, whispery tone on many songs.
By 2000, Danzig's line up had stabilized with the addition of guitarist Todd Youth and bassist Howie Pyro, both veterans of the New York City punk scene. In 2002, this line up released the album Danzig 777: I Luciferi.
In 2004, Danzig released their eighth studio album, Circle of Snakes. Soon after the album's release, Danzig then set out headlining the Blackest of the Black tour across the United States, replacing Circle of Snakes drummer Bevan Davies with Johnny Kelly (of Type O Negative). "The Blackest of the Black" was meant to be a yearly package set up by Glenn Danzig as a way to help some of his favorite dark underground bands gain more exposure, while providing fans of heavy music an alternative to Ozzfest, which Danzig felt had become over saturated with commercialized nu metal acts. During the 2005 Blackest of the Black dates, halfway through the Danzig set, the band was joined by Doyle Wolfgang von Frankenstein, the Misfits most celebrated guitarist, for a set of classic Misfits songs. These shows were the first time Danzig had played with Doyle in over twenty years, and many of these shows were sold out.
In October 2006, he released Black Aria II, the follow-up to his solo classical album, Black Aria. Black Aria was re-released by Evilive in May 2007. He spent the rest of the year completing the production and packaging of The Lost Tracks of Danzig, a double CD containing twenty-six unreleased songs that span the entire Danzig catalog, which was released on July 10, 2007.
On March 10, 2010, a Danzig lyric book was released, titled Hidden Lyrics of the Left Hand. The book contains unreleased song lyrics combined with illustrations by Simon Bisley. Danzig has set Deth Red Sabaoth as the title of their long-awaited album, due for release on June 22, 2010. Once out, it will be the band's first proper studio album in six years, since 2004's Circle of Snakes. Both Tommy Victor and Johnny Kelly will appear on the record as well as former Samhain and current Danzig member Steve Zing.
