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Danzig 5: Blackacidevil

Danzig - Danzig 5: Blackacidevil Audio CD

A fair review of the Danzig "Danzig 5: Blackacidevil" Audio CD. Please note that the below review is the views of the authors, and authors only. You can get a complete list of all Danzig reviews here, or go back to the Danzig tabs.

Band: Danzig
Title: Danzig 5: Blackacidevil
Rating:

Release Date: 2000-02-08
Media: Audio CD

Tracks: 1: 7th House 2: Blackacidevil 3: See All You Were - Jerry Cantrell, Danzig 4: Sacrifice 5: Hint of Her Blood 6: Deeper 7: Serpentia - Jerry Cantrell, Danzig 8: Come to Silver 9: Hand of Doom [Version] 10: Bleedangel 11: Power of Darkness 12: Ashes 13: Don't Be Afraid

great album, seriously
But I, personally, adore this album. Blackacidevil is an amazing work of Danzigs, it is unlike anything he has ever produced, which upsets a lot of older fans. It has slow ominous songs like come to silver and ashes, and fast in your face songs like 7th house and power of darkness. Also the Hand of Doom version is a nice cover in my opinion. The only bad part about the album is its rarity in its extra track form, which really upsets me since I used to own this but it got sevearly damaged, so to get another one it would cost arround $50.
While it differs from everything Danzig has ever made, I still fully recomend it to any hard core Danzig fan. This is my favourite Danzig album besides Danzig 4p. Note that I recomend listening to it on youtube or something first before deciding on buying the extra track version [also note that deeper is just a remix of deep which is found on the lost tracks of danzig].

Different

Well, my personal opinion is that its the weakest of the danzig albums. Where to start on this album.
I've been a fan for a few years now and Danzig has been a great inspiration to me but this album just doesnt cut it.
Songs 1-4 are pretty cool and power of darkness is ok too.
come to silver is a pretty cool track too, although i prefer the acoustic version on the "lost tracks. . . "
its very very different to the rest of the albums, its industrial rock, so if u like experimental industrial stuff it might be worth a look, but if u want classic danzig tunes, go for albums 1-4 then the lost tracks.

Wow, what a mess!
While its not as horrid as some have said, its definitely the second worst thing Danzig has put out, then again theres also Satan's Child too (I still think I Luciferi is worse). I recently had the pleasure (or displeasure) of hearing this album in its entirety.

Alot of the reviewers say he was going for a Nin type sound on this album. I can see it with the song "Sacrifice" but for most of the album I don't. I think Glenn was definitely going for a very extreme and messed up sound on this album. I'm no expert on industrial, but some of it reminds me more of this Australian band Mental Destruction (with how processed the vocals are and how noisy some of the tracks are) than any Trent Reznor).

It begins with 7th House. Basically a 4p throwaway put in tons of distortion. That's it. Thats all I really hear with that song. It has the most banal lyrics of Danzig's career ("gonna make you come with my gun") and this song actually makes me laugh out loud (I wasn't expecting to take the album totally serious). The title track is OK, but doesn't really go anywhere. Sacrifice was the "single" of the album, and in the beginning I thought I was hearing some Depeche Mode remix song! The vocals are slightly reminiscint of Trent on this one, but "Danzigfied". I preferred the original version of "Deep" to this one (also found on the later released "Lost Tracks" and same goes for "Come to Silver" (the Lost Tracks version is so much better, but this version sounds like it'd be on some hip british organized crime movie soundtrack). The album then takes a dive, a really straight dive down. "Hand of Doom" has to be one of the most inane covers of Black Sabbath I've ever heard. I love the original though, but this version just makes it lifeless and has some stupid dismemberment/sex/whatever weirdo Glenn Danzig lyrics added on to it instead of the original lyrics. Horrible, probably the worst song of Glenn's career (hey at least its a cover and not an original!)- it just stinks to high heaven its so badly done.
Bleedangel is decent, as is "Ashes" (along with Come to Silver, the only time the album really comes close to Danzig caliber melody) but "Dont be Afraid" is pure noise and rubbish. First of all, you can't hear a word Glenn is saying on that song, and his voice doesn't even sound like a voice, it sounds like some fisher price robo whatever toy put through a distortion box!

So overall, what's the problem?

The problem isn't with experimentation. I am a big Skinny Puppy fan and love when artists take chances (Especially when its not related to trend hopping). I also don't think that Glenn was 100 percent jumping on the industrial bandwagon. Ok, he was, but at least it didn't end up sounding like some Marilyn Manson sounding drivel. The album is VERY noisy and messed up (especially this second version) and it is not some pop industrial rock album.

Another problem is that the songs don't really go anywhere. Now Industrial isn't always known for its structure (in fact I don't know of many songs from Throbbing Gristle's First Annual Report that have much of a "Structure" other than "United"), but it is known for its pushing the envelope and taking the listener to another cold, alien harsh reality. At least the best beat oriented "industrial" is (Coil, Skinny Puppy, etc).

Its not the fact that its noisy, but the fact that the noise just ends up being noise, unlike a lot of artists that are probably "noisier"!

Also, and perhaps the most important fact of all, is that when a name and logo and cover art says "Danzig" we as fans expect to hear MELODY. Whether it'd be the melody of "Hyrbrid Moments" or "Until You Call on the Dark", fans of Danzig were partly that way because of the tendency for his songs to get stuck in ones head for days, and maybe decades.

I know Danzig realized the "mistake" of this album privately (since he never did an album like this again), but of course would never fess up to it. He made an excuse that he was trying to go back to the "experimentation of Samhain" but he ended up making a mockery of himself in the process. Samhain were about melody and a cold, grim atmosphere, not just sheets of sampled noises put randomly on an album along with some pseudo satanic sex murder lyrical rubbish. I love Glenn, but this is definitely a mistake.

Could it have ever been good? The question has been posed before, and I would say "yes". I think that Glenn could've brought some Black Aria type atmosphere to the process, not effect his vocals as much, and bring some substance to the table as well as better songwriting and melody, even with the mayhem. Then it could've worked almost as well as Samhain did. Now I have to commend Glenn once again for taking a chance. I just think he could've released it as a side project, and tried to eliminate his half hearted attempts at pleasing his fanbase with the name and presentation. He could've tightened up the song writing, or made it more dense and even more extreme, taking away all pretense that its some type of bandwagon jumping album. Ironically, by having some of his "traditional Danzig" trappings, he may have done more damage because if it would've been that type of side project I just spoke of, he wouldn't have had to fake those trappings and do them half-heartedly and in the process made a "Danzig" album. I rest my case. .

MISUNDERSTOOD MASTERPIECE!
Subconsciously, a number of fans decided to "take sides" with former Danzig members, Eerie, Christ & Chuck. I CAN Understand the backlash that met the release of this album. This was made more evident and "necessary" due to the direction that Glenn chose to take with this album. Also, the backlash in the media at the time against Glenn tainted the opinions of many (you can make up your own mind if any of the backlash was legitimate).
One must wonder, if Glenn had decided to release this album under another name, as a side project, rather than an actual Danzig album, how it would have been received? A moot point, yes, but still a valid one, I think.
It's actually amusing to think how close-minded the whole "rock" (metal and punk, included) world is. Rebellion being such a necessary component of rock n roll, it's actually interesting how staid and conformist the scene ultimately is. Record company execs, it would seem, have won control of our minds (souls?) it would seem.
The weakest aspect of Blackacidevil is undeniably Glenn's vocals (THE main reason I became a fan of his in the first place). They're either too muddied in the mix, or else not as strong/confident as they should be. (It's interesting to note that in the early 90s Glenn commented on Henry Rollins as not "living up to his full potential" whatever that meant?? Take a look in the mirror black, GD! Or maybe all the Elvis & Jim Morrison comparisons took their toll?) And yes, there are some awkwardly bad lyrics on this album. But overall, I like it. It has many great, rocking songs on it. "Come To Silver" , "Ashes" , "See All You Were" and "Power Of Darkness" are especially strong, in my opinion.
If you don't like this album, that's your choice, fine. But just answer for yourself: does the fact you don't "like" the approach Glenn took with this release say more about Glenn's shortcomings or your own? .

Who are these people kidding?
Danzig is not the kind of band that needs to be attempting a Nine Inch Nails sound. This is the worst Danzig album ever! On this album, Danzig tries to appeal to fans of coldwave and industrial music, and he fails miserably. If Trent Reznor made a an album that sounded like Lucifuge we'd all start chucking tomatoes at him. Same applies here. I have absolutely no idea why these bozos are asking for so much money for this crappy CD, but I urge you to avoid this album until it drops to. . . . like a penny. It's terrible.

You can see a complete list of all Danzig discography, or go back to the Danzig tabs. There is also a good guide on how to read guitar tabs here.