Review: DANZIG “Black Laden Crown”

DANZIG “Black Laden Crown”
AFM Records

One thing I need to get straight with you guys: I´m a big Danzig fan, hell, it’s my favorite band. Every inch of my sideburns loves what this man does. Starting since the punk days in now legendary Misfits, then heavier darker band Samhain that evolved into Danzig.

Danzig’s road was quite a jumpy one, being in the media spotlight early in the bands carrier especially in the first four albums and later drops it off and continued to work like it never happened. If I can sum up his whole carrier is that is without compromise.

The man does what he wanted to do, even if some people would consider it a carrier suicide, like disbanding the classic line-up, jumping on the industrial wagon for a few albums then coming back in full swing with Deth Red Sabbaoth in 2010.  The album got the fans off-guard with its vibrant, punchy old school production and incredible songs.

Five years later, it left us scratching our heads with Skeletons. The collection of cover songs is cool, but the empty void of the sound nearly killed the album. It sounds like it never seen the mastering room.

And pretty much out of the blue we just got Black Laden Crown.  A missing link between Circle of Snakes and Deth Red Sabaoth.  That would be shortest way to summarize it. A doom driven album with glimpses of Deth Red Sabaoth in it. Even the vibe has rubbed of the 777: I Luciferi, especially the first, title track Black Laden Crown.

Here’s the problem, the production (again) sucks. On some slower songs it pretty much works, but on heavier tracks it clearly shows it flaws. The vocals are too much upfront, bass in non-existent. Leavening me to wonder what happened to the old equipment that Glen was so proud of with which he recorded Deth Red Sabaoth.

On the brighter side, it has some very good songs, even incredible songs: from the evil title track, haunting But a Nightmare, Witching Hour and especially Pull the Sun which is with a doubt best track on the record. I haven’t heard such emotion in Glen’s voice in a very long time.  It was on my playlist for days now.

It’s not a bad album in any means, but leaves you with a feeling that was rushed and half-finished. Which is a shame, with a punchier production and a bit revised songs this would be an excellent follow up to Deth Red. With this, we got a discount version. Let’s hope the Elvis cover album would breathe more life than this.