About Danzig
To be sure, hard rock and heavy metal are not one and the same even though they both emerged from the psychedelia and blues-rock of the 1960s. Hard rock set that bluesy element on top of a back beat swing. Think the Rolling Stones.
The machismo of heavy metal is not so gentle. There's no swagger to it. Metal takes no prisoners, pummeling listeners with its loud, harsh riffs and rigid, militaristic rhythms. As one writer put it, “By and large, heavy metal is rock & roll with all of the roll stripped away -- the blues remains, but it doesn't swing.”
Metal's power was very prominent in the early '70s and it became one of the most commercially successful genres of the time thanks to a loyal audience comprised of mostly young white men. Something in the primal, punishingly loud guitars speaks to the rebellious adolescent experience.
In heavy metal and its various sub-genres, distorted guitars are the pivot foot around which everything else travels. And while some metal artists and their simplistic three-chord riffs are easily dismissed, a good many of them are pioneers when it comes to technique, innovation, and speed.
Led Zeppelin is credited as the first true metal band. They took the the British sound of the '60s, lopped off the extraneous formalities, and turned the volume way up. Black Sabbath took that formula even further, stepping fully away from the blues-based tunes in favor of an immersion in the dark side. Drugs, death, and the occult all figured prominently as Sabbath themes.
Alice Cooper and Kiss drew from both Zep and Sabbath, but lightened up the load musically, crafting catchy cuts that balanced their outrageous and elaborate stage personas. By the late '70s, a movement dubbed the New Wave of British Heavy Metal added more speed and menace to the music. Among the vanguard were Iron Maiden, Motorhead, and Judas Priest. Those bands helped spawn what became known as thrash in 1980s America.
The '80s were good to the metal genre and Def Leppard's Pyromania heralded yet another mainstream breakthrough. A number of bands glammed it up and made the pop charts, as well. Others, like Metallica and Megadeth, stayed true to their thrasher roots, building huge (and loyal) cult followings as the glam pop-metal gave way to grunge.
When thrash and grunge collided, alternative metal was born. Hip hop and industrial infusions took the sound even further into the mainstream. On the other side of the coin, the underground scenes of death metal and black metal got darker and darker with its abrasive, graphic, often fatalistic memes.
One artist who has evolved himself along with the metal genre is Glenn Danzig. Founding the seminal hardcore band the Misfits in the late '70s, Danzig delved into gory, outlandish imagery early on. When he moved into more of a heavy metal vein with Samhain, his darkness was legendary.
Upon Samhain's dissolution, Danzig formed his eponymous band in 1987 with Samhain guitarist John Christ, ex-Rosemary's Babies drummer Eerie Von on bass, and longtime hardcore drummer Chuck Biscuits (D.O.A., Black Flag, Circle Jerks). This was the perfect platform for his menacing theatrics that weren't always meant to be taken seriously.
Danzig's gothic sensibilities proved to be “more quietly sinister and darkly seductive than obviously threatening or satanic.” The musicality mirrored the lyricism resulting in more experimental, atmospheric songs than had previously been heard in the metal world and the band's popularity often suffered because of it.
By 2002, Danzig had returned to form for their I Luciferi and Circle of Snakes releases. Both albums leaned heavily on the dark brutality of their early works. That formula remained in place for subsequent records such as Black Aria II.