Live Metal

Live Metal

DISGRACELAND!

DANZIG, HELLION, APPOLLA-RA & GWAR

The Ritz,

New York City April 7, 1988

Mike Gitter

He’s back! No, Jason Voorhees is probably busy hacking unsuspecting camp counselors to dogmeat. Leatherface can’t break away from his family’s "Texas style” lunchmeat business and Norman Bates is likely laid up on some psychologist’s couch working out family problems. Glen Danzig is a lot more interesting anyway and besides, how many of those fictitious mass murdereres-cum-antiheros have the Elvis-modeled croonin’ and thrustin’ down like Mr. Danzig?

It's been two years since Danzig played his final gig with his previous outfit Samhain, a band that always seemed tike a better idea than an actual band. While Danzig applied an inherent intelligencia to horror imagery first charted out on the much celebrated Misfits, weak musicianship long proved a major drawback in the guitar and drum departments. Given a tidalwave of newfound popularity via Metallica's public adulation of Mr. Danzig’s efforts, the time is right for Glen’s aural horrorshow to resurface. Enter celebrated Slayer/Beastie Boys/Public Enemy cohort Rick Rubin, with whose aid Danzig has honed his sacrificial chainsaw to do damage like never before.

For the first time since Misfits days, Danzig has finally assembled an outfit of true ability. With bassist Eerie Von Stehlman (a welcome holdover from Samhain), guitarist John Christ and journeyman drummer Chuck Biscuits (a hardcore hero known for breakneck work in Black Flag, BOA, the Subhumans and the Circle Jerks), Glen heads up a clearly talented outfit. Unlike previous Danzig outfits, where he was responsible for virtually all songwriting and lyricism to the point of actually playing guitar parts in the studio, the new outfit (simply monickered Danzig) allows Glen to concentrate on his true talent: singing. He is known for possessing one of the strongest voices in the underground, and his recent title track to the soundtrack for last year’s glitzy Less Than Zero displayed highly unexpected talent in his Presley/Orbison comparable vocalizations.

With each appearnce, Danzig grows increasingly beastial, his bear-like visage made more ominous by his trademark, face-sweeping devil lock. Christ and Von Stehlman — reminiscent of the pump-muscled Misfits, Jerry and Doyle—are monolithic bookends in stature and disturbingly powerful build. Form the near call-to-arms of “Initium,” a din reminiscent of Samhain, (with notable Sabbath and Zepplin flavorings), the anticipation-wrought crowd were clearly pumped. This was Danzig’s second iive appearance, the first merely two weeks before at a Southern New Jersey club, and the overall attack was polished and sure-handed.

Surprisingly, drummer Biscuits emerges as Danzig’s focal point, showmanly pounding away to the point of enlivening crowdpleasing Misfits and Samhain faves “London Dungeon,” "Horror Biz” and “Let the Day Begin.” Similarly, Christ demonstrated flair and sensible taste enough to never degenerate his guitar work into endless, masturbatory soloings keeping with Samhain’s tendencies toward Damned-like atmospherics even when upbeating the attack on “Twist Of Cain” or “The Hunter,” a new version of the classic blues number delving into healthy topics including murder, rape and cannibalism.

Often listing none other than Elvis Presley as a primary influence, Danzig remains as imposing a figure as ever, invoking power and aggression through his bravado powered howls on “End Of Time” and “To Walk The Night.” A cover of the Memphis monarch’s "Trouble” brought forth suspicious hip gyrations attributable to Glen’s longtime admiration of Mr. Presley.

Unfamiliarity with as-of-yetunreleased material slowed matters halfway through the hour-long set yet, following a year in the rehearsal space and studio, Danzig’s back and all hell’s about to break loose!

If the crowd had its way, there would have been a real crucifixion that night! Led by the none-too-beautious Ann Boleyn, Hellion were, in a word, pompous. Typical, uninspired and selfimpressed, they were quick to earn audience scorn with Ms. Boleyn coming off as an unholy cross between Ronnie James Dio and a nagging mother. Audience banter reduced itself to a contest between Annie and the insulthurling crowd over who could make more noise.

Similarly, Apollo-Ra didn’t fare much better. Virtual unknowns from Baltimore with a moniker that sounds like a bad Greek restaurant, their halfhour set proved them to be competent metallists of the Iron Maiden/Dio variety.Typical in their approach, Apollo-Ra distinguished themselves as overlycompetent song-writers with hooks and choruses standing out on virtually every number. Vocalist Daniel John Miller seems to be a student of the Steve Harris School of HM frontmanship though—the guy could certainly stand to loosen up a bit.

Given a mere 25 minutes, Richmond, Virginia’s—oops, I mean Antarctica’s—GWAR outdid even Alice Cooper’s recent attempts at “rock spectacle.” The set headed towards Tubes territory with its grandiose outrageousness. Their short set treated the audience to one goat evisceration, one beheading of the winner of the “GWAR contest,” three battles (including the vanquishment of the awesome “Techno-Destructor” by the scantily-clad GWAR woman) and the slaughter of at least a dozen audience members. Rumored to be. the band that has killed virtually everyone in their hometown, GWAR’s arenarock-cum-pro-wrestling spectacle proved fierce competition for the comparatively laid-back Mr. Danzig.